Last spring, former University of Minnesota Coach Dan Monson became the 16th head coach in 49er men's basketball history.
Monson has been a Division I coach for 10 years, most recently at Minnesota for seven years. He has a career record of 170-123 (.580) with seven trips to post-season play. At Minnesota, he compiled a 118-105 mark and reached post-season play five times.
"Dan Monson is a great fit for Long Beach State and a real home run for the 49ers," ESPN basketball analyst Jay Bilas commented. "Dan is a really good coach (who) can teach, motivate and win."
"Long Beach State and Vic Cegles hit the jackpot here," added Indiana University head coach Kelvin Sampson. "Dan and I and Tom Crean worked together for USA Basketball when we won a gold medal in Nova Scotia. We were together for about a month, working on a day-to-day basis. He's extremely intelligent and a really, really sharp basketball guy."
In 2004-05, Monson earned his 100th victory at Minnesota and his overall 150th career head coaching victory. He previously was head coach at Gonzaga and spent two season as a graduate assistant coach at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB). Monson also coached on the international level, twice with USA Basketball.
He has a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Idaho and an M.A. in education with a concentration in athletic administration from UAB. His father, Don, was head basketball coach at Idaho and Oregon and an assistant coach at Michigan State.
"As I have said many times since I have been here, this is the community's basketball program and I am fortunate enough to be here to lead and direct it," Monson said. "I'm really looking forward to embedding myself in Long Beach and I can't think of a better way than getting out and meeting the people in our community."
The season began Nov. 10 against Brigham Young University.
