Former Oregon Ducks men’s basketball coach Don Monson has died at the age of 92, the university announced Thursday.
Monson coached the Ducks from 1983 to 1992, compiling a record of 116-145. His first head coaching position came with Idaho, starting in 1978.
Monson coached several star players at Oregon, but perhaps none bigger than Terrell Brandon, out of Grant High School.
The 1991 Pac-10 Player of the Year said Monson’s tough coaching style instilled in him the structure and work ethic to become a two-time NBA All-Star.
“What I loved about him is that he was hard on everybody,” Brandon said. “If you were the first player or the 12th player, he acted the same way.”
Monson’s son, Dan Monson, the head basketball coach at Eastern Washington, posted Thursday on X that his father “passed away peacefully” on Wednesday night.
The cause of death was unknown.
The University of Idaho also honored Monson on X.
In 1951, Monson graduated from Coeur d’Alene High School in Idaho, where he helped his team win the state basketball title as a sophomore.
He played basketball at the University of Idaho before serving in the U.S. Navy. That led to him becoming a high school basketball coach at Cheney High School and later Pasco High School, both in Washington.
Monson went on to serve as an assistant coach at Michigan State and was credited for helping the Spartans recruit Magic Johnson in 1977.
Monson became the head coach at Idaho in 1978 and later moved on to Oregon in 1983.
Monson went 74-74 over his first five seasons before falling to 8-21 in 1988-89. Then Brandon came along and elevated the program back to around .500, with a 28-29 record over the next two seasons.
Brandon recalled a recruiting trip to UNLV, where then-coach Jerry Tarkanian told him that it was the most wasted visit he had ever conducted because he knew that Brandon was already sold on playing for Monson at Oregon.
“I always wanted to be a Duck,” Brandon said.
University of Oregon basketball player Terrell Brandon (#10) against Oregon State on Dec. 29, 1990.Oregonian
Monson knew this and pounced, one day asking the 6-foot Brandon if he wanted to someday be like Magic Johnson. Brandon replied that he would never be like the 6-9 Johnson. But Monson said that if he wanted to come close to such greatness, he would go to Oregon.
When Brandon was inducted into the Pac-10 Hall of Fame in 2007, the first person he contacted was Monson.
“I just have beautiful memories of playing for him,” Brandon said.
Brandon said one of the many lessons Monson taught him was to always give 100%. Monson asked Brandon if he wanted to be considered a good player or for people to talk about him decades later.
Brandon, then a teenager, didn’t think much beyond the next day, let alone decades down the line.
“I just wanted to play,” Brandon said with a laugh.
Still, he asked his coach what he meant.
According to Brandon, Monson replied: “Play hard. People will always remember if you play hard, no matter if you die, go on to the NBA, or not. If you play hard, you will be considered one of the greats like Stan Love, Greg Ballard, Ernie Kent and Anthony Taylor.”
Brandon took those words to heart and followed that code during an 11-year NBA career.
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