Long Beach State athletic director Bobby Smitheran says his plan came together.
Smitheran fired longtime men’s basketball coach Dan Monson after the school ended the regular season on a five-game losing streak. Long Beach State then went on to win the Big West tournament to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament as a No. 15 seed against No. 2 Arizona on Thursday night.
And according to Smitheran, he was hoping the team would play better knowing Monson wasn’t coming back.
“My belief and the hope is that by doing what I did and the timing of it, they would play inspired, and that’s what they did,” Smitheran told the Associated Press.