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The unfortunate reality of MU basketball
Posted on: September 8, 2021 at 12:28:03 CT
FIJItiger MU
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When Norm was hired in the late 1960's, pretty much nobody cared about men's basketball at MU and the facilities reflected that. Norm landed John Brown under the premise of building something special in his homestate, and was able to leverage that into the Hearnes center being built. Then in 1979 Norm landed Stipo (with an incoming class of Sundvold and Frazier) and MU led the nation that season in attendance increase (and also set the all time NCAA record for team FG% and won a conference championship). MU had the good fortune of that coinciding with college basketball's explosion on cable, meaning that you could watch your favorite program not just on their rare nationally televised broadcasts (Stipo's fr year we played on national TV twice against USC and Depaul, the next season only once against Louisville). But lots of Tiger games were broadcast locally, and MU basketball became a big deal in Missouri. The NCAA tourney expanded, the three point line was introduced, and college basketball was a feature component of getting ESPN off the ground. From 1980-1995 MU was a nationally relevant program almost every season and that overlapped the golden age of college basketball as well when there was more talent, better teams, more personalities and stars than at any other point in history. As college basketball started to fall off in the late 1990's so did Norm's program and MU stumbled towards the next century.
When it became time to pass the torch to the next coach MU was the prominent job opening nationally, interviewing 4 candidates: two of whom went on to be successful NBA coaches and two of whom went on to win national championships at the college level. Based upon some initial success, Quin's contract was adjusted to make him the 7th highest paid coach in the nation and MU built a new state of the art arena. But Quin stumbled off the court in 2003 and it would be difficult to determine who among MU's AD, compliance, and university administration worked harder in their self preservation interests to undermine him. By the time things completely unwound the program was in shambles.
The same day that meetings were occurring to fire him, Mike Alden replaced Quin with Mike Anderson and ultimately kept his job. Mike Anderson was a slightly above avg coach with a track record of program rebuilding and he got MU basketball back on its feet. After Alden's relationship with him soured he left unexpectedly and MU hired another slightly above avg coach in Frank Haith who elevated the program a little bit farther until his relationship with Alden also became untenable and he left unexpectedly.
The AD whose long tenure had brought instability and apathy to MU basketball then delivered his final death blow, interviewing only a single candidate officially and one who would not have been considered a serious candidate for any other similar opening in the country. It was easily the worst hire in modern college basketball, and the results were even worse than even the most pessimistic could have expected. In 2014 MU basketball became a joke, and when it was allowed to continue for 3 full seasons MU basketball died.
MU turned to a slightly below avg coach in Cuonzo Martin to try and resurrect the program. In a normal era he probably could have achieved mediocre results, but given the inherited situation he simply had too much of an uphill battle. Since joining the SEC MU is likely the worst basketball program in the entire conference overall (a case could be made for Vandy, but honestly its probably MU). And the fact is, basketball doesn't matter to MU anymore.
This section of Tigerboard is dedicated to college basketball, MU specifically. So you have a subset of visitors who do care very much about the topic. But its not reflective of the whole. College basketball as a product is pretty much crap at this point. MU doesn't care to try and field a nationally relevant program, and for the most part the fanbase doesn't care that they don't. Its certainly indicative that the overwhelming majority of posters on this site are in their 40's, 50's, and 60's...its an extremely rare event that a student would make a post on here. The student section at Mizzou Arena has been overwhelmingly apathetic for over a decade.
Those of us left wondering how and when MU will recover from hiring Kim Anderson, the unfortunate answer is most likely never. Its probably never going to happen, MU is never going to recover from that. It could have likely survived a 1 year tenure, but the apathy and losing culture and indifference from the administration that built up over three seasons is not a recoverable event. And college basketball itself is dying, its never going to get back to what it used to be.
MU is probably going to have an upcoming opportunity in a few seasons to hire a new coach. There will be a high level of apathy towards the program, and MU will be a complete afterthought in the SEC. Most likely the hire will disappoint those of us who do still follow MU basketball, we will convince ourselves with small glimmers of hope that things are heading back to what it once was, and it won't get anywhere close to getting there. That just is not what MU basketball is anymore.
When it became time to pass the torch to the next coach MU was the prominent job opening nationally, interviewing 4 candidates: two of whom went on to be successful NBA coaches and two of whom went on to win national championships at the college level. Based upon some initial success, Quin's contract was adjusted to make him the 7th highest paid coach in the nation and MU built a new state of the art arena. But Quin stumbled off the court in 2003 and it would be difficult to determine who among MU's AD, compliance, and university administration worked harder in their self preservation interests to undermine him. By the time things completely unwound the program was in shambles.
The same day that meetings were occurring to fire him, Mike Alden replaced Quin with Mike Anderson and ultimately kept his job. Mike Anderson was a slightly above avg coach with a track record of program rebuilding and he got MU basketball back on its feet. After Alden's relationship with him soured he left unexpectedly and MU hired another slightly above avg coach in Frank Haith who elevated the program a little bit farther until his relationship with Alden also became untenable and he left unexpectedly.
The AD whose long tenure had brought instability and apathy to MU basketball then delivered his final death blow, interviewing only a single candidate officially and one who would not have been considered a serious candidate for any other similar opening in the country. It was easily the worst hire in modern college basketball, and the results were even worse than even the most pessimistic could have expected. In 2014 MU basketball became a joke, and when it was allowed to continue for 3 full seasons MU basketball died.
MU turned to a slightly below avg coach in Cuonzo Martin to try and resurrect the program. In a normal era he probably could have achieved mediocre results, but given the inherited situation he simply had too much of an uphill battle. Since joining the SEC MU is likely the worst basketball program in the entire conference overall (a case could be made for Vandy, but honestly its probably MU). And the fact is, basketball doesn't matter to MU anymore.
This section of Tigerboard is dedicated to college basketball, MU specifically. So you have a subset of visitors who do care very much about the topic. But its not reflective of the whole. College basketball as a product is pretty much crap at this point. MU doesn't care to try and field a nationally relevant program, and for the most part the fanbase doesn't care that they don't. Its certainly indicative that the overwhelming majority of posters on this site are in their 40's, 50's, and 60's...its an extremely rare event that a student would make a post on here. The student section at Mizzou Arena has been overwhelmingly apathetic for over a decade.
Those of us left wondering how and when MU will recover from hiring Kim Anderson, the unfortunate answer is most likely never. Its probably never going to happen, MU is never going to recover from that. It could have likely survived a 1 year tenure, but the apathy and losing culture and indifference from the administration that built up over three seasons is not a recoverable event. And college basketball itself is dying, its never going to get back to what it used to be.
MU is probably going to have an upcoming opportunity in a few seasons to hire a new coach. There will be a high level of apathy towards the program, and MU will be a complete afterthought in the SEC. Most likely the hire will disappoint those of us who do still follow MU basketball, we will convince ourselves with small glimmers of hope that things are heading back to what it once was, and it won't get anywhere close to getting there. That just is not what MU basketball is anymore.
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The unfortunate reality of MU basketball - FIJItiger MU - 9/8 12:28:03