 However, during his tenure the scholarship reductions took their full effect, making it difficult for him to recruit on the same level as the rest of the Big Ten.His Gopher teams only made the NCAA tournament once, in 2004–05.Monson almost left the Minnesota program for the University of Washington following the 2001–02 season, but was thought of highly by the athletics department under Tom Moe and was persuaded to stay despite limited success.