Before the story gets buried by January snow, I think it is worth getting on the record with the situation up in the Twin Minny. While I have too much respect for Dan Monson to grave dance, I have to give credit to Athletic Director Joel Maturi for making the hard, but I believe, well timed and sound decision to seek a new direction.
Eight years ago Coach Monson seemed to be a great get. After several years as a program building assistant at Gonzaga, and then two years as head coach in which he steered the Zags to a 52-17 balance and an impressive Elite Eight run, he had the youth and lustre that appeared to be the perfect antidote to the Clem Haskin’s term paper mill. And despite laboring under NCAA sanctions, the beginning of Monson’s tenure at Minnesota was marked by modest progress. He notched three NIT bids in his first five seasons, returning the Gophers to a modicum of competitiveness on the court, propriety off it.
Two seasons ago (2004-05) he guided a very well balanced and talented team to an NCAA bid. I remember watching that team with great admiration at the Big Ten Tournament and thinking very positively of Monson and the state of his program. That squad featured able seniors in Aaron Robinson, Brent Lawson, and Jeff Hagen but also had a corps of very promising underclassmen in Jason Stamper, Spencer Tollackson, Vincent Grier, Rico Tucker, and Dan Coleman. It seemed that Monson was putting together solid rosters and had the chops and enthusiasm to keep the program in the upper tier of the conference and a perennial invitee to the field of 64. Williams Arena was going to be a very tough place to play for years to come. So it seemed.
What happened? The 2005-06 season was an unmistakable backward step. The promise of the previous year went glaringly unrealized with a 16-15 overall mark and a 5-11 conference mark. Player development seemed to flatline. The breakout seasons I expected from Coleman and Tollackson never materialized. The team often seemed to spectate while Grier played a lot of one on one basketball. What I had observed to be a multifaceted roster the season prior withered while Grier dominated the ball and vied for a Big Ten scoring title. While a superior athlete and gifted scorer, Grier was not the kind of player who made his teammates better. Monson, to my mind, failed to keep him integrated into what had been a much more productive team concept.
In retrospect, similar star enabling pathology was present in an earlier Monson team, namely the Kris Humphries one and done. The Humphries team may have had less depth than those during Grier’s two year stay, so it was understood that he would need to assume a heavy burden. And we should acknowledge that Humphries and Grier (a prized JUCO), at least on paper, constituted recruiting coups for Monson. Monson’s failure was his inability to mesh these marquee players into roles that made the team better. Perhaps he lured Humphries and Grier to Minneapolis with promises of gaudy numbers that would attract NBA general managers. Perhaps he found the narcissism of the modern blue-chipper and their hangers-on difficult to rein in. Whatever the case, his teams in these cases tended to devolve into one-dimensional, underachieving units.
Again, I recall watching the Humphries team and wondering why Monson was putting such solitary emphasis on one player at the expense of the team game. The results spoke volumes. With Humphries dominating the ball and getting plump box scores, the team went 12-18 overall, 3-13 in conference. The next season with Humphries collecting dust in the NBA, the Gophers surged to 22-11, 10-6 in conference, and an NCAA bid. This breakthrough year included savvy use of Grier as a primary offensive option, but not the only option.
Good coaches know how to make superstars work for the team. They get outstanding players to buy into a sum of parts philosophy. Maybe I’m overstating the case here, but I saw it as one of Monson’s achilles heels. And it recurred at times when the program was on the cusp of some very positive momentum.
And then there was 2006-07. This season in Minny started with a thud. An embarassing last place finish in the Old Spice Classic and then the eyesore blowout loss to Clemson at Williams. Monson’s roster, while not stacked, had strong returnees in Coleman, Tollackson and Abu-Shamala, and a well regarded OU transfer McKenzie. The results should’ve been better. The games with Southern Illinois and Clemson should’ve been more competitive. Maturi did what Michigan AD Bill Martin failed to do after the inexcusable second half Amaker’s bunch turned in at NC State. He had his secretary schedule a meeting with Coach. He didn’t ignore the evidence that the program needed a fresh start.
I’m not ready to prescribe what Maturi’s next move should be. And I still have a lot of respect for the way Monson comported himself during his tenure. He was one of the most candid and articulate interviews in the league. And he seemed to be an energetic and highly engaged game coach. In the end, his program had a fits and starts feel. It was plagued by inconsistency and by the end, underachievement and stagnation. I’ve cited some possible explanations and there are doubtless others.
I think we watch Molinari closely this season and reevaluate. The initial lobbying for Flip Saunders was ludicruous. Talk of Larry Eustachy absurd. I suspect Maturi will take stock in March and make the right call. A decisive hire shortly after season’s end will protect the next recruiting cycle and give the new coach a fair shot for 2007-08.
Maturi need only look around the league at places like Purdue, Illinois, and Wisconsin to see examples of informed, wise hiring. And contrary lessons in Ann Arbor and Indiana. The program of Jim Brewer, Mychal Thompson, and Kevin McHale will shine brightly again.
