Former Gophers coach Dan Monson on his tenure: "I did what they hired me to do."

Taking a break from the Final Four last April, Dan Monson walked up the steps to a facility that once stood outdated. His eyes widened like a teenager being shown a new car.

The college basketball coach who left Gonzaga in his late 30s to take over a Gophers program after one of the worst academic scandals in NCAA history, now returned in his late 50s in awe of a state-of-the-art athletic complex on par with most major Division I schools across the country.

Needless to say, the Long Beach State coach in his 13th year since resigning from the Gophers was envious.

"The facilities are second to none," said Monson, who coached at Minnesota from 1999-2006.

Sunday's story on the last two decades of Gophers basketball since the scandal under Clem Haskins looked in depth on how the program has attempted to make progress with the last three coaches, including Tubby Smith and Richard Pitino, now in his seventh season.

Here is the rest of my 30-minute interview with Monson earlier this season when he reflected on his tenure and the challenges of getting the Gophers past the scandal.

Q: When you look back on leaving Gonzaga after the Elite Eight run what did you remember about taking the Gophers job after the scandal?

Q: How did you feel about the job that was done to move the Gophers forward? How difficult was the experience when your tenure ended?

A: I'm very proud that I did what they hired me to do. The job was to come in after the biggest academic situation the NCAA had incurred and change that program into one of respect and one that people could look at and say they're doing it the right way. But at the end of the day, college athletics and revenue come from success on the court and winning. So, you know years later the cleanup process was over and they moved on. I felt like I left there a better coach than when I came in. I had to endure a lot of circumstances that I would've never imagined I was going to in my career. I got married two weeks after taking the job. I felt like I became a good father and a good husband, because I had to rely on my family. It felt like going through those times there was no one to really turn to, because we didn't know anybody back there. It ended up being very positive for me personally and professionally. I know ultimately for fans and the administration in the end it wasn't quick enough, but it was done the right way with the foundation that it was able to come back relatively quick from the situation and the penalties that were incurred.

Q: You were able to recruit the only McDonald's All-Americans and players who have been drafted by the Gophers in the last two decades. Did that help the perception of the program getting Rick Rickert and Kris Humphries to stay home?

A: Absolutely. I'll always be indebted to Rick and Kris for that matter. Two guys who had a lot of options. One of the innate advantages to the University of Minnesota basketball job is kids deep down grow up as Gophers. There's no other Division I school in the state. By in large kids grow up following that team and wanting to be a part of it. For Rick who originally committed to Arizona and had everybody in the world. Kris had Duke and Kansas in those opportunities. For those kids to believe in our program, come back and say, 'It's ok. This program is back. We can go anywhere in the country, but we chose to stay here and help bring that honor and prestige back to the state of Minnesota.'

Q: What was it like coaching those high-profile recruits?

Q: Your thoughts on the program's resources at the time? How were you able to deal with the facilities not being on par with other Big Ten programs?

A: I was never one to use excuses like that. I took that job and I knew the facilities were the least of our concerns in recruiting. We had to find a special kid. That's why for the in-state kids the Barn for some of them was cool. They wanted to play there. When we were recruiting a kid, they had to have a special vision outside of facilities to come to the University of Minnesota when I was there. Because of the sanctions people weren't negative recruiting with us on facilities. They had much bigger ammo with the sanctions and the postseason ban and all those sorts of things that were incurred.

Q: Have you seen Athletes Village, the Gophers new facility?

A: I went to the Final Four and [basketball assistant of operations] Caitlin Mahoney gave us a tour of the new facilities there. How proud I am to see what [Gophers AD] Mark Coyle and Richard have done there as far as that. The facilities there are second to none. At the University of Minnesota, they should be very proud of where that program is after 20 years. Because the fact of the matter was, even though I don't believe it was a [big] factor with us in our success or failure, there was a lot of places in the country that had won the arms race [in facilities]. We didn't even enter them, because we had other things that were a pressing issue.

Q: What do you think of the fan base who have been through a lot with Gophers basketball?