****The OFFICIAL 2013 Mizzou Tigers Basketball Thread****

[Saul Good]

MIZ-SEC

[Jerm]

Alden just mentioned it in his PC, said he got a text this morning from Haith that he was taking the job.

Didn't tell the players...nothing.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Jerm

Alden just mentioned it in his PC, said he got a text this morning from Haith that he was taking the job.

Didn't tell the players...nothing.

Jesus Christ.

Alden, it's time:

[Al Bundy]

I love Hamas. I wish my UCF Knight fanbase had you.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

LAWL:

By Gabe DeArmond:

The Frank Haith era at Missouri ended Thursday in a startlingly similar fashion to which it began: With Tiger fans asking a baffling question. Three years ago, that question was "They hired WHO?" Today, it was, "He's going WHERE?"

Reports surfaced early Thursday afternoon that the University of Tulsa was targeting Haith, who had gone 76-28 in three seasons at Mizzou. Two hours later, he was on a plane out of Columbia to meet with Golden Hurricane officials. By the end of the day Friday, he will be the former coach at Mizzou and Danny Manning's successor in Tulsa.

Three years ago, Mike Anderson bolted Columbia, headed for home at Arkansas. Missouri fans were mad, but most understood. Anderson had spent 17 years in Fayetteville and even through black-and-gold goggles, the program at Arkansas is at least the equal of Missouri's.


After a very public flirtation with--and dismissal by--Purdue's Matt Painter, Missouri settled on Haith. He had coached seven seasons at Miami, winning 129 games and losing 101. He made the NCAA Tournament once. The hire was met with disbelief both inside and outside Missouri's fanbase. Many Tiger fans told me they had to use a search engine to find out who the new coach was.



In year one, Haith took the leftover pieces that had quit on Anderson a season before and led them to 30 wins. Though the season ended with a thud at the hands of Norfolk State in the NCAA Tournament, Haith was the national coach of the year. Suddenly the answer to the question, "They hired WHO?" became "Frank Bleepin' Haith. That's who!"


Haith won 23 games with a rebuilt roster in his second season, falling again in the NCAA Tournament opener. He won 23 more (though five don't go on his ledger thanks to an NCAA-mandated suspension) in year three, though his most recent team ended its season in the NIT against Southern Miss.


Though Missouri was in the running for a tournament bid until the final buzzer against Florida in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals, the seats were never full and fans hesitated to buy into Haith's team this season. Jordan Clarkson and Jabari Brown headed off to the NBA. There was skepticism about Haith's ability to lead Mizzou back to where it had been in his first season. Apparently, that skepticism wasn't limited to the fans. In the wake of Thursday's events, it's obvious Haith shared it.

from PowerMizzou on Vimeo.


Really, there is no other conclusion to be drawn from a coach leaving Missouri for Tulsa. I truly don't mean this as the shot I'm sure it will come off as being. Sure, they're joining the American Conference. Sure, they've had a lot of very good coaches. But ask 100 people who didn't go to school at Tulsa which of the two jobs is better and all 100 of them will tell you the one in Columbia is.

And yet Frank Haith left. Why?

I have no indication that Haith was given a Johnny Dawkins-like ultimatum: Make the tournament or you're gone after next year. Make no mistake, that doesn't mean the pressure wasn't there. Haith needed to have a solid team next year. He needed to have a team that improved. He needed to show his bosses and his fans that he was a coach capable of getting Missouri going again, of playing in--and winning in--March. Apparently, he didn't think he was.


What other conclusion is there to be drawn? At Tulsa, Haith knows this: Nobody's going to call for his job next season. Or the one after that. Or probably the one after that. He's got a minimum of three years of a seven-figure salary. That wasn't a sure thing if he stayed in Columbia.

Haith had (not sure if this is still true at this time) two top 100 players coming in. He had last year's freshman class with a year of experience. Next year was going to be a big year. Most coaches would tell you they welcomed the challenge. Haith, with his actions, told us all he'd rather make sure he was still getting a paycheck next April.

And with that, Missouri moves on to the next question: Who's next?

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Posted on Fri, Apr. 18, 2014
Frank Haith is doing Missouri basketball a big-time favor

By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star

Frank Haith won a national coach of the year award and made two NCAA Tournaments in three seasons at Missouri but the best thing he could do for the basketball program was get out.

Mizzou athletic director Mike Alden should send the Haith family flowers. MU fans should take back every nasty thing they’ve said about Haith because he is doing them a huge favor.

OK, fine. Maybe they don’t need to take back every nasty thing.

But in taking the Tulsa job, Haith’s gone without baggage. Alden doesn’t have to worry about firing a man three (or four) years into the job. The school owes him no separation pay and, actually, as part of his contract, Haith will have to pay Mizzou $500,000 for leaving. Alden should use the money as a signing bonus for a better coach.

Accepting the job at Tulsa, even with that school’s move to the American Athletic Conference — if you lost your cheat sheet, that’s the one with Connecticut, Cincinnati, and Memphis, among others — is Haith’s white flag.

He wasn’t up to the job at Missouri, and in recent days and weeks had become increasingly frustrated by what must have felt like constant reminders.

Haith had two choices. He could stand his ground, do his job, and try to earn respect from a justifiably skeptical fan base. Or he could get out before getting got, and see if a fresh start would help. Haith chose the easy way out, and for that the people at Tulsa should be wary and the people at Mizzou should be thrilled.

Missouri is a better program than Haith has made it look. He knows that as well as anyone. After all, the best season of his coaching life was made possible by the last coach leaving him the type of dedicated, athletic, skilled basketball players a coach should be able to attract to Columbia.

Haith was transforming that type of sustainable unity into a second-chance shop for players unhappy with their first school. The result was a disjointed group that underperformed its collective ability, consistently showing less than the sum of its parts. This was a team built around three talented perimeter players that still ranked among the nation’s worst in turnovers and assists.

Two years of frustrating basketball, of groups with all the symptoms of badly coached teams, should be over now — but this is where it gets complicated.

Because as Haith blew an opportunity at Mizzou, he gave Alden an opportunity. The problem is, how many MU fans feel good about how Alden’s next hire will end?

This would be Alden’s fourth basketball coach, and to be fair, the first three haven’t been the disasters that many have made them out to be. Quin Snyder and Mike Anderson each made an Elite Eight, and Haith did have that 30-win, Big 12 tourney title season in 2012.

But it’s also true that each man underachieved at the job and the program. Alden nearly lost his job in the mess that ended in Snyder’s departure, and Anderson chose job interviews over recruiting his last two years. Each man had substantial bona fides when hired, but these things are judged on results, not projections.

The problems during Haith’s time at Mizzou deserve their own paragraph. The hire was a reach from the start, and Alden’s defense of Haith’s character and integrity looked awfully silly after the Miami investigation. The Tigers played beautiful and efficient basketball that first year under Haith, but lost in their first NCAA Tournament game as a No. 2 seed and regressed each year after.

If Mizzou exhales at the gift of being out of an awkward situation with Haith, it won’t matter if Alden can’t sell his program’s considerable advantages to the right coach. The Tigers have the facilities and salary capabilities to lead the pack of Southeastern Conference programs chasing perennial powers Kentucky and Florida, but they can’t do it with a substitute teacher in charge.

So this comes back to Alden. There are good candidates out there, and Alden has a lot to sell. After Haith, the fan base should welcome a new coach with smiles and all-you-can-eat Shakespeare’s.

Football is king, and as long as Gary Pinkel is winning (especially in the SEC) then a basketball hire isn’t make-or-break for Alden. But MU aspires for more than just football success, and there’s a lot of money to be made if a basketball coach can fulfill the program’s potential and keep fans coming to Columbia after the bowl game.

It’s up to Alden to find the right man to take advantage of the opportunity Haith is providing. It’s up to Alden not to let his program’s fans down, again.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Jesus Christ.

Alden, it's time:

That will never happen, and you know it.

Alden's exit will come one of two ways:

1) Bowen Loftin forces him out
2) Alden gets a job at the NCAA

As for a coach...

It seems that Gregg Marshall would listen IF Missouri is willing to pay him around $3 million to do it. Not take the job... but consider it.

Brass balls move would be to line up donor support to commit to an annual salary of $3 million for Marshall, with $1-1.25 million in assistant salaries to hand out.

That combo could land Marshall with someone like Tim Fuller as the primary assistant/recruiting ass-kicker.

It's costly. But would have both the highest ceiling and highest floor of any other move.

[Al Bundy]

Ryan Rosburg said players found out via text that Haith was taking the Tulsa job this morning.

— Gabe DeArmond (@GabeDeArmond) April 18, 2014

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

That will never happen, and you know it.

Alden's exit will come one of two ways:

1) Bowen Loftin forces him out
2) Alden gets a job at the NCAA

As for a coach...

It seems that Gregg Marshall would listen IF Missouri is willing to pay him around $3 million to do it. Not take the job... but consider it.

Brass balls move would be to line up donor support to commit to an annual salary of $3 million for Marshall, with $1-1.25 million in assistant salaries to hand out.

That combo could land Marshall with someone like Tim Fuller as the primary assistant/recruiting ass-kicker.

It's costly. But would have both the highest ceiling and highest floor of any other move.

Just adding a little levity, man .

Re: Marshall-

That's just too pie-in-the-sky for me.

Honestly, I would not be opposed to giving Fuller the job. He did more of the X's and O's than Haith did, and he's a better recruiter. I think that is more of a fallback position if you can't get a guy like Archie Miller or Pitino the Lesser, but I could live with that.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by Al Bundy

Ryan Rosburg said players found out via text that Haith was taking the Tulsa job this morning.

— Gabe DeArmond (@GabeDeArmond) April 18, 2014

Wow. Insert obligatory "Stay Classy Haith" blast here.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Corporal Upham just called in to call Haith a chickenshit.

What a devout coward.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Just adding a little levity, man .

Re: Marshall-

That's just too pie-in-the-sky for me.

Honestly, I would not be opposed to giving Fuller the job. He did more of the X's and O's than Haith did, and he's a better recruiter. I think that is more of a fallback position if you can't get a guy like Archie Miller or Pitino the Lesser, but I could live with that.

Love the gif. And would probably enjoy seeing Alden do that as much as anyone. Only in our dreams, though.

Agree that Marshall is pie in the sky. Will come down to Alden having the stones to make it happen, I think.

As far as money for it, they could find it. The donation from the KC Sports Commission last year (all $30 million of it) was a check written by one guy. It wouldn't be hard to get him on board with this move, not at all.

Archie Miller and Richard Pitino are excellent secondary options. My order goes:

1) Marshall (all likelihood is he says "NO" even to a huge payday, but you still try that first)

2) Ben Howland (coaches hard-nosed basketball that is D first and excels with less than blue chip recruits. Good fit)

3) Archie Miller (Love his recruiting ability and family pedigree)

4) Richard Pitino (same as Miller)

5) Mike White (has been successful as a head coach, clean, good background/ties)

Brad Underwood is my random, stab-in-the-dark candidate. He's a good recruiter with ties to the area from his days at KSU, and he's a very, very good Xs and Os coach, in my opinion. Did very nice things with the talented roster he inherited at Stephen F. Austin. He'd be more than a dark horse candidate with some more D1 head coaching experience.

Kim Anderson is my "No chance" candidate. I'd put him even lower than Marshall, honestly.

[duncan_idaho]

DeArmond also makes a strong case for Chris Mack at Xavier. Has a lot of Pinkel qualities and has won at a high level.

[TribalElder]

Alden noted that there are no official candidates for the head Missouri job yet, but did mention the success seen by coaches like University of Central Missouri Kim Anderson. Tigers assistant Tim Fuller will serve as the interim head coach.


From http://www.kshb.com/sports/college-s...ogram-at-tulsa

Fuuuu

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by TribalElder

Alden noted that there are no official candidates for the head Missouri job yet, but did mention the success seen by coaches like University of Central Missouri Kim Anderson. Tigers assistant Tim Fuller will serve as the interim head coach.


From http://www.kshb.com/sports/college-s...ogram-at-tulsa

Fuuuu

He was specifically asked about Anderson and therefore said nice things.

It would be shocking for Alden to consider Kim Anderson. And probably even more shocking for Anderson to agree to work for Alden.

[TrebMaxx]

Originally Posted by TribalElder

Alden noted that there are no official candidates for the head Missouri job yet, but did mention the success seen by coaches like University of Central Missouri Kim Anderson. Tigers assistant Tim Fuller will serve as the interim head coach.


From http://www.kshb.com/sports/college-s...ogram-at-tulsa

Fuuuu

I can tell you right now that there is a big wave of support for Kim Anderson here in Columbia. Bring back a "true son", etc. How high up in the big donators chain that support goes is the question.