Dan Monson Resigns
Posted by SBG on Thursday, November 30th, 2006 at 5:33 pm
If NDSU had beaten Minnesota in football, we could have maybe had two "resignations".
Sid:
Monson received an extension before the 2002-03 season and would have been due a $1 million buyout had he been terminated. By agreeing to the resignation, he and his lawyer were able to negotiate a buyout of slightly less than $1.2 million with university officials.
Resignation? Buyout?
I'm not getting this whole thing. Looks like Monson got $200,000 more than if the University had just fired him. Imagine this conversation.
Maturi: Dan, the team's not quite where we want them to be. The barn is empty. We probably won't win a game in the Big Ten. You lost to Winona State. Face it Dan, it's not going so well. I may have to fire you to save my own ass. But, look on the bright side. If we fire you, Dan, you'll get $1,000,000.
Monson: How about you let me resign and save face.
Maturi: Resign, hey, if you want to... well, okay, it'll be tough to see you go.
Monson: What about the million?
Maturi: That's if you were terminated... you resigned.
Monson: Hey... I might not quit after all.
Maturi: Well, then, you're fired!
Monson: [weeping]
Maturi: Ah, I'm sorry, Dan. You can come back.
Monson: [Drying eyes] I don't want to work where I'm not wanted.
Maturi: We want you! Here, sign an extension!
Monson: Nah, I think it's better that I leave.
Maturi: Well, at least take another $200,000.
Monson: Joel, you are doing a heckuva job.
Maturi: Dan, could you send Glen in? We need to talk.
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If he had resigned w/o the negotiated $1.2M, would he have lost ~$200K in salary? That's the only way I see that making any sense at all.
Even then, what has Monson done to deserve extra money? Just fire him and keep the $200K, that's what I say. Who is representing Dan Monson anyway? Maybe I could negotiate a $200K settlement to resign from grad school and find another school to take me on. That'd be pretty sweet.
The Minnesota sports administration really seems to be clueless. I suppose I have low standards for University of Minnesota sports, though, and will be satisfied as long as they manage to keep Lucia around.
You have no idea what Maturi does. NO IDEA.
Neither does Monson.
This probably doesn't matter a whole lot to most people. The Gophers basketball team is a joke this year (although people need to stop bringing up the Winona State game... it was an EXHIBITION!).
I'll say this much. I wrote a profile of Monson for a class earlier this semester, and I sat down with him in his office and had a face-to-face interview with him just a few weeks before the season started. Very nice, down-to-earth guy... and he was genuinely happy with his job. I'm sad to see him get forced out. When I e-mailed him and asked for the interview, he personally called me to set it up, whereas every other coach I've tried to do it with has sent a quick e-mail or had their secretary call me. Monson is a good guy who appreciated the students that were paying his salary, which is a lot more than I can say about Glen Mason.
With that said, it's not hard to see why Monson got the boot. He's had very little success here, and the team is headed in the wrong direction. Clemson is the worst team in the ACC, and they just smoked us. I'll be interested to see what direction they go after this year.