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Dan's dream job

Monson an eager Gopher despite possible sanctions

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Posted: Wednesday July 28, 1999 09:46 PM

Minnesota signed Monson to a seven-year contract worth about $700,000 per year. Otto Greule/Allsport

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- New Golden Gophers men's basketball coach Dan Monson is gearing up for one of the biggest challenges of his career: making a team shaken by an academic scandal into a winner in the classroom as well as on the court.

Monson is under pressure to preserve Minnesota's winning ways despite the departure of coach Clem Haskins and the likelihood of NCAA sanctions over an academic fraud scandal. But university officials are also going to hold him accountable for how his players perform off the court.

Minnesota signed Monson on Saturday to a seven-year contract worth about $700,000 per year, including outside income. He stood to make about $200,000 a year all told under the 10-year deal he signed in April at the much smaller Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.

Still, some people might say he was a little crazy to leave a secure job at Gonzaga, which he led to the final eight of the NCAA tournament last spring, and step into such an uncertain situation.

"If it was a short-term decision, they'd be correct," Monson said in an interview Wednesday. "But for me it's a long-term decision. ... If I can get through these first couple years of the problems we have, I have a job at one of the greatest universities in America, in the best league [the Big Ten] in America."

Monson said he sees himself as the head of a family that's met with adversity, and his job is to make sure everybody keeps moving forward despite everything that's happened.

The Gophers' fate within the NCAA isn't expected to be resolved before spring. But university president Mark Yudof has said the school is likely to impose some sort of preemptive sanctions on itself.

Monson said he isn't spending much time worrying about sanctions, which might include limits on postseason play or scholarships, because he can't control what the NCAA might do.

"I tell my teams all the time to focus on what you can control," he said. "You can't control the NCAA investigation, you can't control the officiating, you can't control what the crowd is doing. All you can control is how hard you play, how well you concentrate, and how much you can compete."

Just five days into his new job, Monson on Wednesday hired the first two of four assistant coaches -- Mike Petersen, who was head women's coach at Texas Christian for the past three seasons, and Bill Walker, an assistant at Central Missouri State in that same period. Monson has long-standing ties with both. After taking a couple of weeks off to get married Aug. 7 and honeymoon in Hawaii, Monson plans to get down to work in earnest with his new team Aug. 14, when he'll have four days to prepare the Gophers for a series of exhibition games in Europe.

Monson said he hopes the healing process begins on that trip.

"Starting in Europe, we have to start believing in ourselves here. That's half the battle," he said. "If we come off that trip with the players having a better understanding of the coaching staff, and who they are and what they expect, along with the coaching staff having a better evaluation of the players, we've had a successful trip," he said.

Monson also has met individually with all the players, all of whom plan to stay with the possible exception of Antoine Broxsie, who was benched because of the scandal for Minnesota's first-round NCAA tournament game, a 75-63 loss to Monson's Gonzaga team. Broxsie, who remains on suspension, is looking at transferring.

Once the Gophers get back to Minnesota, Monson will face the challenge of making sure his student-athletes are serious about being students. He said he hasn't had time to develop a specific plan for ensuring academic success, but he will rely on the university's tutoring and support staff.

Monson said his contribution will include setting an "extreme" expectation level and instilling the attitude that academics and degrees are important.

If the NCAA does impose sanctions, Monson said he will stress to potential recruits the other advantages of playing for Minnesota -- the quality of the education they'll get, and the chance to play in what he believes will remain a great program in the highly competitive Big Ten.

"None of those things are going to be taken away from their experience, no matter what happens in the NCAA," he said.

 

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