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Last week when
Mike Anderson decided to pull up stakes and head to Arkansas,
Missouri fans got a taste of what college sports and coaching is
all about. The last time a Missouri coach in football or basketball
left for another college job on his own was in 1957 when Frank
Broyles left to go coach at where else? Arkansas.
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It is a
bitter pill to swallow when a coach you like leaves to go
elsewhere, and for Mizzou fans it was hard to take. These decisions
are never easy. Emotions run high, tempers get short and feelings
are hurt.
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With that
said, when it is the school you always wanted to coach at, how can
you say no? This is part of the business of college sports. The
contracts are worthless, the coaches have little credibility, and
tomorrow Mizzou will raid another coach from some school and all
will be good for them.
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For those
who thought Anderson should be loyal to his contract and stay,
think again. Coaches are always looking to improve their situation.
They over-recruit players, they break rules to get players and they
always have their agent looking for a better job.
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For
Anderson, going back to a place where he and then-Head Coach Nolan
Richardson won a national championship at Arkansas was what he
wanted. They have great facilities, an impressive incoming class of
players and tradition as they have been there, done that. Also,
they are playing in a watered-down Western Conference of the
SEC.
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If Anderson
made one mistake, he went too far with respect to wanting to retire
at Mizzou and he was a lifer. It is a hard balancing act to
maintain, as he joins countless other coaches who have fallen off
the wire trying to comfort players and fans before they
bolt.
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Mike
Anderson and Missouri will be all right. The Tigers have a
formidable group coming back and, with an addition here and there,
they could be interesting no matter who the coach is. As for Mizzou
fans, welcome the reality that the program is not of the
untouchable status. As for the administration, they did what they
had to do. To annually increase a coach’s salary because he had a
good run can be costly, especially when they do not win the big one
or in this case don’t have any business in the tournament in the
first place.
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The Anderson
era is now behind us. It was a good one, as he graduated kids, kept
them off the police blotter and for the most part brought some
respectability back to a program that was in dire need. He was the
first African-American head coach in the history of the university,
and he did not disappoint until he moved on.
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Fans should
understand that this should not be about the coach but the program.
Your coach will leave some day, because they were either too good
for the job or not good enough.
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“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Cuonzo Moving On “font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;”>
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After three
years at Missouri State, Cuonzo Martin is moving on to the
University of Tennessee to become their head coach. While I am a
big fan of coach Martin on and off the court, he will have his work
cut out for him.
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He inherits
a program that is in near shambles with respect to talent. The
program is being investigated by the NCAA for some prior
shenanigans and could get slapped a bit. For some reason, lying is
a strong suit for UT lately and it goes well beyond sports. Yet
they have good facilities, strong support and a top-notch
conference to play in.
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Coach Martin
will be second fiddle to the women’s program, led by Hall of Famer
Pat Summit.
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Then there
are the haters. The son of former coach Bruce Pearl, Steven Pearl,
laughed on his Twitter account about the hiring of coach Martin,
saying, “All I can do is laugh and say good luck sir” on the hiring
of Martin. This coming from a coach’s son who was so bad he could
barely play for his father. When it came to recruiting Steven, the
coach missed out on skill and intelligence.
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Coach Martin
has been in tougher situations, starting with playing his way
through the challenges of East St. Louis. He parlayed that into a
stellar career and degree from Purdue. A health setback with cancer
would not keep Cuonzo down, as he served as an assistant at his
alma mater before landing a job as head coach at Missouri State.
Since his tour of duty there, Martin took a team that had
underachieved to winning the conference championship in his third
year.
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Martin will
bring something to Tennessee that could be interesting. Martin can
recruit, and to take his show to a state that seldom gets athletes
to play there should make the local coaches – at St. Louis U, the
Valley, maybe Missouri – think about how to counter it.
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I am excited
about coach Martin moving on to this venture. He is
battle-hardened, and he will need it as this will be an uphill
challenge. I hope the natives in Tennessee give him
time.
