Long Beach State head coach Dan Monson could very well be coaching his final game with the mid-major when they take on the heavily-favored Arizona Wildcats in the first round of the men’s NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
But it has been an epic run for Monson. He was actually fired back on March 11 after an 18-14 regular season. However, the powers that be with Long Beach State agreed to let Monson coach the remainder of the season. It’s the least they could do for a respected head coach who had led the program since back in 2007-08.
What followed was stunning. LBSU ended up defeating UC Riverside, UC Irvine and UC Davis to win the Big West Championship and earn an automatic bid into the Big Dance.
This is unlikely to continue Thursday against an Arizona team that finds itself as 20.5-point favorites. Despite this, Monson was in good spirits speaking with media ahead of the game.
Dan Monson Fires Off One-Liners, “Seinfeld” Quote In Epic Press Conference
“O.K., I don’t have to answer anything I don’t want to because I’m working for free today,” Dan Monson told reporters as he opened up the press conference.
But that’s not even the best part of it. He legitimately went full George Costanza. You never want to go full George Costanza unless. Well, just listen…
“You guys see the Seinfeld [episode] where George Costanza was trying to get fired and he couldn’t lose his job and he’s still going to work every day? That’s me. I’m a Seinfeld episode going on right now in real life,” Monson said.
Talk about priceless stuff.
In case you were wondering, George’s exploits are well known in that episode. It came back in 1997 and was titled “The Millennium.”