Worst Seat in the House

I’m not a real big fan of “what ifs” because these are just things that will never happen — even though we all know that they could have and if they had… what would have been the final outcome?

Obviously we are at a time in the season where we are only excited for the upcoming tournaments and big hopes for fulfilling lifelong dreams.

But what if…

Dan Monson would have stayed at Gonzaga instead of getting the big paycheck from University of Minnesota 21 years ago? It would have only been a matter of time before Monson would have left Spokane for another dream job instead of making it a dream job like Mark Few has.

That takes a great deal of belief and Few is surrounded by believers.

Of the Final Four teams from 2017 Gonzaga and Oregon are the only two teams that seem to be a lock for March Madness. North Carolina has fallen on hard times and South Carolina is at 16-16 at this writing and short of winning the SEC tournament probably will be headed to another post season tournament. What is interesting is that all four coaches are still in place at those schools and no one has moved on.

Monson has been at Long Beach State since 2007. Monson has had some success at The Beach but lately his teams have been hovering around .500. But he can always go outside in February and enjoy the beach.

But what if… Mike Price had stayed at WSU instead of getting caught up in the hype of Alabama football? First of all, Price should have signed the contract to at least make the Crimson Tide think twice about cutting him loose as the head coach before even coaching his first game in Tuscaloosa.

Price must have figured that if he could have the kind of success that he had at WSU the sky would be the limit at Bama. Not sure if Price or his agent was the one thinking this would be a good idea.

Had Price stayed at WSU and retired from the Palouse there is a good chance that Coug fans would be going to a game at Martin Stadium played on Mike Price Field. Ego and money aren’t the only things that make the world go around. Price was loved in Pullman and he could take a losing season now and then when after taking two teams to the Rose Bowl and a few of other bowl games.

Finishing up his coaching career at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) must have been a big downer for him. I’m sure the lesson was learned but oh what a price (no pun intended) he paid. Young coaches often look at a certain situation and think that they can stay for a couple of years and work their way up the coaching ladder and ‘TA DA’ my dream job is just over the horizon. It isn’t always that easy and sometimes the dream job is the one that they presently have. They can look to the bigger school or community and wow look at all of the possibilities that they have there. But bigger isn’t always better and community support comes in a variety of ways not always beneficial.

A smart person will step back and weigh all of the good before searching for the negatives. Naturally people will look at all of the negatives and think about how great it could be.

Happiness isn’t always measured in monetary terms and really shouldn’t be. Take care of what you can control and realize that there is no such thing as an ideal job, rather some are just better than others. But what if…

— Dale Anderson is a local sports columnist. Email him at [email protected].