Dan Monson announced as next Eastern Washington head coach
Long-time collegiate coach Dan Monson was announced as the new head coach at Eastern Washington on Friday. Monson recently ended a 17-year tenure at Long Beach State with a trip to the NCAA Tournament, and before that was also the head coach at Minnesota (1999-2007) and Gonzaga (1997-99).
“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,” said AD Tim Collins. “While talking to Don, it became clear that this region matters as much to him as Eastern does to it.”
Monson is a Washington-native, growing up in the state while his dad, Don Monson, was a high school coach. Don later went on to coach at both Idaho and Oregon. Dan graduated from Moscow HS (ID) and the U of Idaho, but injuries ended his playing career early on and he focused instead on coaching. He hasn’t coached in his home state since he left Gonzaga in 1999 for the Big Ten.
A winner throughout his career, Monson, 62, has been to four NCAA Tournaments and nine NITs, won two WCC titles and four Big West titles, and accumulated an overall record of 445-396.
The Eagles are coming off back-to-back Big Sky titles under former head coach David Riley, who left earlier this month to become the new head coach at Washington State. EWU has been a consistent contender for the past decade and has now seen its last three head coaches all leave for bigger jobs.
