Let's really break it down

Posted on: December 24, 2016 at 14:27:43 CT

The trouble started with Norm. He completely failed to recruit through the mid-90's. The 93 class of Thames, Winfield, Sutherland, Grimm, and O'liney was good. The 94 class was a disaster. Oh, the Haley's were ok as juco placeholders, but they really weren't what should have been brought in coming off of where MU had been as a program. The Hudson/Moore situation was completely mishandled by Norm and he ended up losing both, while he could likely have kept Hudson if he had not given preferential treatment to Moore who gave up anyway. The next few years were a disaster, until he took a flyer on Dooling's best friend in order to land Dooling. Norm did a lot of good things for MU basketball, but he stayed past his time.

Many feel that Mike Alden did not handle the Norm situation well, but the fact remains, it was time for a change.

Based on what was known in the spring of 1999, hiring Quin Snyder was the proper move. Quin's biggest mistake (which MU saw again 10 years later) was not hiring good assistants. He hired slick recruiters when he was supposed to be the slick recruiter himself. He needed teaching assistance. His NCAA issues were really pretty minor, but the mistake was repeating behavior after he already had the NCAA's attention. Had he maintained a qualified staff, he might still be the coach.

Alden hit an infield single by hiring Mike Anderson. He was the best guy we could have had at the time, but he was not the worst. Most of you were very excited about him, but eventually began to see what I and others warned about. He is not bad, just limited and is not capable of excellence. Anyone who really paid attention to Nolan Richardson knew it. Alden failed us again, but playing along with Mike and keeping him around. Mike was likely hampered by Alden putting restrictions on him that should have applied to Quin, not Mike. I can only assume that Alden felt Mike was better than Quin, so he had better keep him around, being afraid he couldn't find another guy as good....He couldn't.

Alden continued to fail the basketball program by giving up and hiring Frank Haith. I do not fault him for the Painter effort. His mistake was panicking and feeling rushed once Painter fell through. Gregg Marshall would have come in 2011. There were other options. That all being said Frank made same big mistake as Quin. He hired recruiters instead of teachers to help him, when he was supposed to be the big recruiter himself and needed teaching assistance. He had a guy, but pushed him out for another recruiter. As bad of a coach as Frank Haith is, it is possible he's still our coach if Ernie Nestor had been retained. A lot of you deny the correlation, but Navy has improved every year he's been there. And you forget that virtually every single timeout in '12, Frank asked Ernie what to do before addressing the team. It was plain as day, right on your tv's.

Alden strikes again. I firmly believe that he hired Mike Anderson out of pressure from the administration and he hired Kim Anderson, either due to pressure from a few big donors or because he was just giving up. Just like we probably could have have Gregg Marshall a few years ago, but not today....we likely could have had some other guys (Archie Miller, Mick Cronin...) a few years ago, but not today. Their aura has either grown beyond what Mizzou looks like today or have resolved the problems that made them look before.

Now is no different than any other time in history for hiring a basketball coach. You must find the next young stud before everybody knows who he is. That is how you build your program. You give them a big raise, but still at a budget friendly number for a major program. You give them some incentives. And when they build the program, you continue to bump them up. And if they some day make you elite, it's no big deal to pay them an elite salary.

Fortunately, I believe there are some better options in 2017 than there were in 2006 and maybe 2011.