The Long Beach State Beach men's basketball team closed the regular season on a five-game losing streak to finish fifth in the Big West Conference. The school's athletic director, Bobby Smitheran, informed coach Dan Monson - who started with the program in 2007 - that he was fired but could play out the conference tournament out of courtesy.

The Beach responded by winning three games in a row in three days and winning the Big West Conference tournament crown for the first time since 2012. With it came the conference's lone March Madness bid: the No. 15 seed in the West Region.

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While speaking with reporters ahead of the Beach game against No. 2 seed Arizona, Smitheran initially didn't take credit before backtracking and taking credit for the postseason turnaround.

"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," Smitheran said. "I'm not trying to pat myself on the back, but it worked."

Smitheran came to Long Beach State in August 2023 after a 15-year stint at San Diego State.

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Monson's tallied 275 wins in his 17 years at Long Beach State, 170 more than any other coach in program history. He's also tied for the most conference titles (four) and conference tournament titles (two). This is his second March Madness berth after making it as a No. 12 seed in 2012.

"I don't have to answer anything I don't want to because I'm working for free today," Monson told reporters yesterday in his pre-tournament presser. "Did you see the 'Seinfeld' [episode] when George was trying to get fired and couldn't lose his job, still going to work every day? That's me. I'm a Seinfeld episode going on right now in real life."

Basketball fans took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to call out Smitheran's stance as the Beach held tough with Arizona.

Long Beach State eventually lost 85-65 to the Wildcats in the first round of March Madness.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Long Beach State AD takes credit for March Madness run after firing coach