Mizzou’s mess
AD’s sudden departure to Baylor makes new football coach Barry Odom’s job even more difficult
When the Southeastern Conference voted to add Missouri in 2011, it was widely viewed as a marriage of (television) convenience. Missouri wasn’t a major power in either revenue sport (no conference football titles since the 1960s and zero Final Four appearances) and didn’t represent a natural rivalry for any current member. It isn’t even really in the South.
What it had, however, was the allure of two major markets in St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo., with a lot of cable subscribers that could help get the SEC Network — still in the planning phase at that time — off the ground.
To date, though, Missouri’s biggest contribution to the SEC is in the off-field drama department. There seems to be an endless supply, enough that its athletics director decided Wednesday after 15 months on the job he’d rather give it a go at Baylor of all places.
Roughly an hour before firstyear Missouri coach Barry Odom was set to make his debut here at the SEC’s media days, USA TODAY Sports reported that Mack Rhoades, the man who hired him last December, had accepted the athletics director job at Baylor.
The same Baylor that just fired everyone — president, athletics director, football coach — after an investigation into how the school handled sexual assault complaints involving athletes. The same Baylor whose football program is going to lose two years of recruiting when the next coach comes in, setting it up for a significant fall from the national contender status it has grown accustomed to in the last few years. The same Baylor that is going to face years’ worth of lawsuits, possible donor issues, enrollment struggles and potentially involvement from the Big 12 and NCAA.
So if Baylor is a complete mess at the moment, what does that make Mizzou?
Since taking advantage of a weak SEC East in making the title game, here are the major headlines Missouri has had to deal with — all during Rhoades’ 15month tenure:
A boycott by the football team in November related to racial tension on campus that helped hasten the resignation of the university system president.
The retirement of football coach Gary Pinkel, who is fighting lymphoma, after 15 seasons.
The suspension of quarterback Maty Mauk and his dismissal after a video surfaced on social media showing him snorting a white powder.
A major NCAA infractions case in men’s basketball that included a loss of scholarships and a postseason ban.
The removal of baseball coach Tim Jamieson, who had been at the school for more than two decades.
A Title IX investigation into allegations of verbal abuse by softball coach Ehren Earleywine that prompted some players to release a statement saying they were playing under protest.
That kind of constant athletics department dysfunction used to be Tennessee’s job. Now it’s Mizzou’s, which isn’t the job Rhoades thought he was inheriting.
Missouri fans will not remember him fondly or be able to cite a single major accomplishment under Rhoades, but it’s hard to get much done when your entire first year as an athletics director is spent putting out fires and your future is uncertain with the school’s administrative leadership completely in flux.
Missouri is in a rough place, and not just athletically. Enrollment and donations are down. Dorms have closed because the rooms aren’t being filled. Last fall’s protests, which were at least somewhat an outgrowth of the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., shined a spotlight on racial relations that has made recruiting African-American athletes and non-athletes even more challenging.
And those issues played a big part in why Missouri hired Odom, who, despite his obvious coaching talent, has a thin résumé for an SEC head coaching job.
Odom, who played linebacker at Missouri from 1996 to 1999, wanted the job regardless of the athletics director. He was a star defensive coordinator under Jus- tin Fuente at Memphis and returned to Missouri last season, when he led a top-10 defense. Even with the news of Rhoades’ departure breaking right before his media days debut, Odom looked calm and in control. His performance should be reassuring to Missouri fans.
“(Rhoades) and I talked a lot last night just about opportunities in life and in general,” Odom said. “We’ve worked through a bunch of things in the last eight months together. But the direction and leadership of Missouri, I look forward to representing Mizzou. I look forward to representing and leading our football program and our athletic department, and we’re going to go find a great one.”
Still, without a solid and stable administration behind him, there’s little chance Odom can make this work. In years past, Missouri could have counted on one of the many disciples of former athletics director Mike Alden to come back and right the ship. But even members of that group will look at Missouri, in its current state, with a skeptical eye.
Missouri would do well to consider elevating Wren Baker, whom Rhoades hired from Memphis as his top deputy and is considered a rising star in athletics administration. Missouri needs continuity, and Baker has the intelligence, people skills and media savvy to make the best of a rough situation.
Though it doesn’t look good for Missouri to lose Rhoades to Baylor, all it takes is one good hire to get things turned around. If not, Odom’s opening statement here — “I hope that I have the opportunity to be here many, many times” — is destined to go unfulfilled.