To motivate the players, Long Beach State AD claims to have fired Dan Monson.

SALT LAKE CITY: The athletic director of Long Beach State stated that he fired coach Dan Monson at the right time in the hopes that it would set off the precise run that took the team on an unanticipated trip to the NCAA tournament.

A few hours before the Beach fell to Arizona 85-65 in the opening round, Bobby Smitheran told The Associated Press on Thursday, “My belief and hope is that by doing what I did and the timing of it, they would play inspired, and that’s what they did.” “It worked—I’m not trying to praise myself on the back.”

Monson’s job status has been one of the most intriguing stories leading into the first round of the NCAA tournament. He was fired last Monday, on the heels of a five-game losing streak, but is continuing to coach for the rest of the season, and the team responded last weekend by winning the Big West tournament to earn an unexpected trip to March Madness.

“If it helped, I’m really happy we did it because I wouldn’t trade it for the job or any other job. I’ve said that all along,” Monson said of Smitheran’s comments. “If that’s what spurred it [being dismissed], that’s great. But we’ll never know ’cause that’s how it played out. We’ll never know if it did or not. It’s not really worth talking about.”

Monson’s firing has received too much attention, according to Smitheran.

Smitheran remarked, “I don’t buy into that narrative.” “I believe that people are really failing to understand that we all agreed that a change in leadership was required. Coach Monson brought this to my attention.

Monson has acted with class and has never made any suggestions to the contrary. Following Thursday’s defeat, he thought back on the “variety of emotions” he had to cope with during the previous week and the overwhelming support he had received from his teammates, friends, and family.

“I’m the luckiest guy in this tournament in the world to be able to do what I got to do today with these individuals,” Monson declared, maintaining his position from last week. “I’m content, joyful, thoughtful, and primarily proud. I’m pleased with my tenure. I take pride in having done it correctly. Proud of the student-athletes who departed this place having grown into men after entering as young men. into the room without a college degree and left with one. arrived here with the intention of developing their skills and left with the ability to play professionally.

“I believe the most is pride. I’m proud of who I am. I’m also proud of my family, by the way. These are difficult few weeks. Without them, I couldn’t have imagined it.”

This week in Salt Lake City, a number of coaches—including Mark Few of Gonzaga, who is friends with Monson—have been less forgiving, advising an AD to wait for things to settle out before declaring a separation during the season.

On Thursday, Monson expressed his desire to continue coaching despite realizing it is beyond his control.

He said, “We’ll see what happens.”