By now you've probably heard of Dan Monson, the head coach of Long Beach State who lost his job and then became one of the darlings of March Madness by leading the Beach to the Big Dance.
"When Jim Harbaugh says who's got it better than him, someone's gotta tell him Dan Monson," he said after winning the Big West title and clinching an NCAA Tournament berth on Saturday.
On Monday Dan Monson was fired after 17 years at LBSU. Now he's dancing.
— Brenna Greene (@BrennaGreene_) March 17, 2024
"When Jim Harbaugh says who's got it better than him, someone's got to tell him Dan Monson... I have the 1999 run at Gonzaga, but as Mark Few said over text, why don't we have a run in the first year and a… pic.twitter.com/Cb5MCctlS8
Well, did you know the real hero of the Long Beach State story? It's not Monson, his staff, or the Beach players. It's the guy who fired him. This was all part of the plan.
"My belief and hope is that by doing what I did and the timing of it, they would play inspired, and that's what they did," LBSU AD Bobby Smitheran told The Associated Press on Thursday. "I'm not trying to pat myself on the back, but it worked."
The Beach termed Monson's departure a "mutual separation," and Smitheran said Monson's departure was Monson's idea.
I think this is really getting lost on people, that we agreed that a change in leadership was necessary," Smitheran said. "This was something Coach Monson brought to me."
So then why is the AD taking credit for it in the first place?
"My job is to position our coaches and student athletes to be successful," Smitheran said. "This was maybe an atypical way to do so. But I believed in the roster we had, I believed in our coaching staff and our ability to do something special. Maybe this was the catalyst they needed to be inspired to play for one another."
Either way, 15-seed Long Beach State takes the floor with 2-seed Arizona on Thursday afternoon. We'll see if Smitheran can inspire the Beach to an upset.