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Missouri Tiger fans began to get nervous following the team’s loss to the Baylor Bears.
Fortunately, a big victory over Kansas State should slow the talk and disenchantment with Tigers coach Gary Pinkel and his staff.
The win gave Missouri its fifth straight bowl eligible season. And, by the way, that is a Missouri record. I am amazed at how quickly fans can lose perspective when it comes to discrediting a coach and his program – many times at the drop of a hat.
In the Nov. 11 edition of USA Today, the lead sports article read “Missouri High Price of Success.” It is the story of how the Missouri athletic program has made a large commitment to Tiger football.
Pinkel’s guaranteed annual compensation has increased 331 percent during his eight-plus years at the school. The guaranteed salaries of his assistant coaches has risen more than 130 percent.
However, even with those huge increases, the net revenue to the school from football has also grown. It is reasonable that Missouri is in the top 25 in the country each year. Some years have been close to the top 10 while others have hovered in the top 20.
Many fans still want more. If that is the case, then they will need to pony up more money to obtain a bigger name coach.
Those fans may think that’s what they want and need to get to the promised land, but I disagree. I think Pinkel has done an outstanding job of putting Tiger football back on the college map.
Even though the coaching staff sometimes seems to come up short in making good adjustments, the bottom line is that Missouri needs to go the next level in recruiting to reach and remain as a top-15 school. Pinkel has done a good job in recruiting but needs to be able to get the “special” athlete.
The Mizzou offense is attractive to skill athletes, but places like Texas Tech and Oklahoma State seem to do a little better job of getting the cream of the crop in their schemes. Missouri needs to consistently compete with and win against those schools to move up to the next level.
Mizzou fans may need to be either more tolerant of the program or be prepared to bring a big checkbook to the table to make a change.
• The Blue Springs-Rockhurst state quarterfinal game last Friday was a classic. However, for the fourth week in a row, we saw the officials play a key role in the game. It is simply wrong.
• Coach Dick Vermeil was right from the very beginning that Larry Johnson needed to become a man. Thank goodness he is gone.
• I think it is a very real possibility that two Missouri college teams can win national championships – Lindenwood University at the NAIA level and Northwest Missouri State at the NCAA Division II level.
• My quote of the day is from NFL Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs: “Failures are expected by losers, ignored by winners.”
Missouri Tiger fans began to get nervous following the team’s loss to the Baylor Bears.
Fortunately, a big victory over Kansas State should slow the talk and disenchantment with Tigers coach Gary Pinkel and his staff.
The win gave Missouri its fifth straight bowl eligible season. And, by the way, that is a Missouri record. I am amazed at how quickly fans can lose perspective when it comes to discrediting a coach and his program – many times at the drop of a hat.
In the Nov. 11 edition of USA Today, the lead sports article read “Missouri High Price of Success.” It is the story of how the Missouri athletic program has made a large commitment to Tiger football.
Pinkel’s guaranteed annual compensation has increased 331 percent during his eight-plus years at the school. The guaranteed salaries of his assistant coaches has risen more than 130 percent.
However, even with those huge increases, the net revenue to the school from football has also grown. It is reasonable that Missouri is in the top 25 in the country each year. Some years have been close to the top 10 while others have hovered in the top 20.
Many fans still want more. If that is the case, then they will need to pony up more money to obtain a bigger name coach.
Those fans may think that’s what they want and need to get to the promised land, but I disagree. I think Pinkel has done an outstanding job of putting Tiger football back on the college map.
Even though the coaching staff sometimes seems to come up short in making good adjustments, the bottom line is that Missouri needs to go the next level in recruiting to reach and remain as a top-15 school. Pinkel has done a good job in recruiting but needs to be able to get the “special” athlete.
The Mizzou offense is attractive to skill athletes, but places like Texas Tech and Oklahoma State seem to do a little better job of getting the cream of the crop in their schemes. Missouri needs to consistently compete with and win against those schools to move up to the next level.
Mizzou fans may need to be either more tolerant of the program or be prepared to bring a big checkbook to the table to make a change.
• The Blue Springs-Rockhurst state quarterfinal game last Friday was a classic. However, for the fourth week in a row, we saw the officials play a key role in the game. It is simply wrong.
• Coach Dick Vermeil was right from the very beginning that Larry Johnson needed to become a man. Thank goodness he is gone.
• I think it is a very real possibility that two Missouri college teams can win national championships – Lindenwood University at the NAIA level and Northwest Missouri State at the NCAA Division II level.
• My quote of the day is from NFL Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs: “Failures are expected by losers, ignored by winners.”
