Minneapois ? Dan Monson resigned as the men’s basketball coach at Minnesota on Thursday, one day after the Gophers’ fifth straight defeat left them with their longest losing streak in more than 40 years.

Assistant coach Jim Molinari will take over as interim head coach.

The Gophers fell to 2-5 with a 90-68 home loss to Clemson on Wednesday night. Minnesota’s skid is its worst in nonconference play since a six-game slide during the 1962-63 season.

Monson, who received a $1.1 million buyout from the university, said “a new voice” was needed.

“I think at the end of the day as a coach, if you’re not putting the players first, if you’re not putting the university first, you’re not doing the job. And I’m trying to do my job here,” he said.

“The program’s not in the position we want it to be in,” athletics director Joel Maturi said.

Monson had come under increasing pressure to turn around a once-proud program brought low by an academic fraud scandal under former coach Clem Haskins.

The Gophers emerged from NCAA sanctions in Monson’s tenure, but by his eighth season, fans wanted more.

Under Monson, who had a 118-106 overall record but was 44-68 in the Big Ten, “The Barn” went from one of the most raucous, difficult places to play in the conference to a dormant arena with thousands of empty seats.

“Wow,” Monson said to a roomful of reporters at a news conference to announce his resignation. “We need this interest at the games. I guess that’s why I’m here.”

Minnesota coach Dan Monson watches the finals seconds of his team's 90-68 loss to Clemson on Wednesday in Minneapolis. Monson resigned Thursday, one day after the Gophers' fifth straight loss.

Monson took over the program in 1999 after the fraud scandal, which ultimately wiped Minnesota’s 1997 Final Four trip off the books.

Monson had some success. Two seasons ago, he led the team to the NCAA tournament after a 21-11 season. But that quickly faded as the Gophers went 5-11 in the Big Ten last season, and they were off to a worse start this year.

The problems began in the exhibition season when the Gophers lost to Division II Winona State at home. That carried over into the regular season with losses to Marist and Montana in a Florida tournament last weekend and Wednesday night’s blowout loss at Williams Arena.

Monson, who was hired away from Gonzaga, struggled with recruiting at Minnesota. His teams often were overmatched in the Big Ten.

In the preseason, he said the team had its best foundation in his eight seasons in the Twin Cities, with a freshman class including Bryce Webster and Lawrence Westbrook and redshirt freshmen Damian Johnson and Kevin Payton. But the Gophers, without a single senior, haven’t won a game since beating North Dakota State and Long Island to start the season.

“I feel like I did what I was asked to come here to do,” Monson said. “With that, I have no apologies for where the program is.”

But he added: “It’s time for somebody else to make the next step and that’s to have more success on the court than I had.”