Quote:
Originally Posted by CoMoChief
Gregg Marshall would have been the better hire. It would have been a slam dunk hire. Mizzou went the cheap route. And that's fine. I get some people love the hire because he's a MU guy that's always bled black and gold and truly cares about the program, but Gregg Marshall would have been the better hire. He's the better coach, it's that simple.
Hell, Ben Howland would have been a better hire. Now there's the argument that what might be the best hire may not be the "best" hire for Mizzou, and it goes back to the fact that Kim Anderson bleeds black and gold. This is his dream job. He won't go anywhere else. I doubt if Duke called him up saying the Coach K vacancy is all yours, I doubt that his stubborn loyalty to the Univ would allow him to leave for another job, that and he's almost 60yrs old I think.
And had Howland or Marshall been hired and had they ended up being successful at MU within the next handful of years, they'd leave for a UNC, Duke, 'Cuse, once one of those coaches retires. MU is a pit stop job for these bigger name, better resume guys, but it isn't considered a pit stop job to Kim Anderson, so it was the "safe" hire, but I dont think it was the best in terms of what the end results will be. Just more mediocre basketball, just like Norm Stewart. Well they could be better than just mediocre, but they're not going to compete with Kentucky or Florida for that conference.
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You're way off the mark here.
First of all, Marshall would never take a job like Missouri's; it's not the step up in profile that his accomplishments deserve. You can't criticize them for not getting a coach they could never have.
Secondly, no one was more critical of the Anderson hire than I was. The recruiting at the ass end of the Norm years was terrible, and he was the lead guy. For whatever reason, he has completely inverted that in a few months. Holding on to Gant was big and getting Namon Wright to stay on after he was released is a pretty damned amazing feat. Combine that with getting someone from Huntington Prep as a bag man, strengthening ties with Jimmy Whitt, getting Caesar, and I'm blown the **** away by his recruiting thus far.
In effect, he's proven to be a better recruiter than Frank Haith, someone who was known only as a recruiter. If he's half the X's and O's guy he seems to be, he's going to be in the top third of coaches in the league pretty easily.
In parlance, this is the equivalent of a ** player who ends up playing at a **** level.