Monson circles back to Cheney

CHENEY - It's taken several decades, but Dan Monson has come very much full circle.

On Friday, April 12 the former Gonzaga, Minnesota and Long Beach State coach was named Eastern Washington's 20th men's basketball coach. And on Monday, April 15, he returned to Cheney to meet with media, fans and boosters.

His connections run deep in the area and that was a strong selling point for EWU athletic director Tim Collins and the selection committee composed of a variety of school administrators.

"We matter to our region and we have a coach now this region matters just as much to him," Collins said.

Monson, 62, was born in Spokane in 1961 but spent the first several years of his life in Cheney where his father, Don, was once head coach at Cheney High School from 1958 to 1967.

In the intervening years Monson first followed his dad's coaching career in a move to Pasco (1967-1976) and then to Michigan State University (1976-1978).

Next came settling back in the Northwest in Moscow where he both graduated from high school and college at the University of Idaho where his father was head basketball coach from 1978 through 1983.

Monson's coaching career began not long after graduation from the U of I in 1985 with a degree in secondary education. He spent a couple of years at Alabama-Birmingham before embarking on a 11-year stint at Gonzaga, nine as an assistant and two as head coach.

Those two memorable seasons at Gonzaga resulted in back-to-back post season trips, one to the NIT and the other the run to the Elite-8 in the NCAA tournament. The 1998-1999 season launched the GU program into the national spotlight with the first of 25 consecutive NCAA Tournament berths.

Monson took the job at the University of Minnesota in 1999. It lasted seven seasons and seven games into 2006-2007. From there he went to Long Beach State for 17 seasons where he was famously fired several weeks ago just prior to qualifying his team for the NCAA Tournament.

Traditionally, Eastern has been a stepping-stone for coaches on the way up, like David Riley who recently took the Washington State job. Monson's appointment is reportedly the first time the school has hired an existing Division I coach to lead the program.

Monson has led programs to 13 postseason appearances, including four NCAA Tournament bids (1999, 2005, 2012, 2024) and nine NIT appearances. His teams have won nine conference championships and he's earned five Coach-of-the-Year honors.

In opening remarks, Monson referred to his firing at Long Beach saying, "I started the press conference by saying, 'You know that I was working for free that day and so I didn't have to answer your questions.'" He vowed to stay as long as necessary Monday.

The line drew plenty of laughs, but Monson knows there are certainly serious challenges ahead. He will be faced with retooling a roster of two-time Big Sky Conference champs that has been ripped apart by the transfer portal following Riley's departure.

"This program has got to get some younger guys and develop them," he said. "You're not going to be able to go out and get an open checkbook and get guys off the off the market that are ready to play."

Monson cut his coaching teeth with a Gonzaga program that was a mere shadow of its current self. The tools he used then and there are much the same as Eastern has always had.

Monson said when he was an assistant at Gonzaga, he considered applying for some of the openings that occurred at Eastern but obviously stayed the course in Spokane.

"They've made this a lot better job than it's been for years and years," Monson said.

Monson both proudly proclaims both his past and the present.

"I'm a Vandal, it's in my blood," he said. "I'm a Zag, I'm proud of that, it's in my blood. But now I'm an Eagle and it's not just in my blood, it's in my heart, it's in my soul, in my mind 24/7. I'm thrilled to be an Eagle."