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.
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.