CHENEY, Wash. — Eastern Washington Eagles are welcoming a familiar face into their men's basketball program as Dan Monson accepts the head coach position.
Monson is no stranger to Spokane County after coaching Gonzaga in the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons playing a key role in the start of the current program's success. The Zags current March Madness Tournament streak, which is the second longest active streak (second to Michigan), started with Monson as the head coach of the 1998-99 team. That team danced all the way to the Elite Eight.
Over his career, he has led his programs to 13 postseason appearances, including four NCAA Tournament bids and nine NIT appearances. Monson led his programs to nine conference championships and earned five Coach of the Year awards.
Monson has 445 wins spanning 27 seasons as a Division I head coach.
"Eastern Washington University is a huge part of Spokane County and our region. Throughout the search for our next men's basketball coach, it was important, for us, to identify a head coach who represented this area," Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics Tim Collins said. "While talking to Don, it became clear that this region matters as much to him as Eastern does to it."
You may remember the Long Beach State head coach who was making headlines after being fired and then proceeding to make a bid into the NCAA March Madness Tournament, that was Monson.
Monson left Long Beach State as the program's all-time winningest coach, with 275 wins. This season, he led the team to the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big West Tournament as the No. 4 seed.
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