Where’s the A-list? Sterk’s Missouri football coaching search seems to lack wow-factor
Whenever it was that University of Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk decided he was going to fire football coach Barry Odom mere hours after MU’s victory over Arkansas last Friday, he had to know he’d be making a bold statement.
One he needed to back up.
In the unforgiving trenches of the Southeastern Conference, there would be no slack for a dedicated True Son of Mizzou who had guided the program to bowl eligibility three straight years after taking over in frantic circumstances in 2015 … and despite the distractions and constraints of NCAA sanctions looming all year.
A five-game losing streak marked by lapses of discipline and focus in a schedule built for success with a seemingly promising team left Odom 25-25, a record that evokes the Seinfeld-ian notion of a 2.0 grade-point average: “Right in that meaty part of the curve,” as George Costanza put it. “Not showing off, not falling behind.”
Trouble is, you’re falling behind if you’re standing still in the SEC. Especially at MU, which is inherently financially and culturally challenged in the context of the football-rabid fan bases of conference peers who largely outdraw and outspend Missouri by glaring margins.
So Sterk felt compelled to make a change, which is his not just his prerogative but his duty and responsibility if he saw fit to find a better fit for the job. It’s one of the most important things he was hired to do, and he needs to be able to do it.
But as the search continues, what typically accompanies such a bold statement either isn’t evident yet or was missing altogether.
It might have been anticipated that Sterk had in mind, if not in hand, some kind of wow-factor candidate, or candidates, to replace Odom. If he took a couple big swings and whiffed, no such name has emerged.
Names like these have: A source on Thursday said that even as the search remains ongoing, among names informally floated to the MU administration and a member or two of the board of curators are Louisiana Tech’s Skip Holtz, Arkansas State’s Blake Anderson, Army’s Jeff Monken and Nevada’s Jay Norvell.
While there is nothing conclusive here, this development would seem to preclude the idea of something thrilling bubbling behind the scenes of the hushed campaign Sterk is administering in consultation with Parker Executive Search, the same firm Mizzou utilized to find basketball coach Cuonzo Martin in 2017, and with input from MU Chancellor Alexander Cartwright and MU President Mun Choi.
Maybe a prominent name will still pop up. When Sterk announced the firing of Odom last Saturday, he stressed that “confidentiality” would be paramount to the search.
That’s certainly held true, so much so that scant few outside Sterk’s internal circle seem to know what’s happening before the fact. Even those typically seen as being close to the program.
Now, that doesn’t mean that any of the many names associated with Missouri’s possible interest, from the aforementioned to coordinators at Power Five conference schools or other head coaches from so-called Group of Five conferences, couldn’t be successful at MU. Few thought Gary Pinkel would be The Answer when he came from Toledo.
But it does mean that with each passing day it’s easier to be skeptical about the chances that Sterk will find the rare force who could both galvanize the base and win at Mizzou, particularly while competing with the likes of Florida State, Mississippi and Arkansas for top-notch candidates.
Especially at a school that has fired six of its seven coaches since Dan Devine left for Green Bay in 1970 and now has sent a message that even a guy you might think would enjoy the benefit of the doubt won’t get that.
That could have unintended ripples that limit the pool. Odom is represented by super-agent Jimmy Sexton, whose vast client base includes the likes of speculated potential candidates such as Memphis’ Mike Norvell, Charlotte’s Will Healy and Florida Atlantic’s Lane Kiffin and many other coaches across the south.
The only thing we know about Sterk’s blueprint is that he has made three football coaching hires during his career as a director of athletics, including one that worked out tremendously.
When Brady Hoke left San Diego State for Michigan, Sterk promoted Rocky Long from defensive coordinator to head coach. Long has gone 80-38 since, and if he weren’t 70 years old maybe he’d be a fine candidate for the job in Columbia.
Sterk had less luck at Washington State, where he promoted longtime assistant Bill Doba but fired him with a 30-29 record after five seasons. He then brought in Paul Wulff from Eastern Washington. But Wulff’s 53-40 record at Eastern Washington translated into a 9-40 nightmare, and Wulff was replaced by Mike Leach in 2012 after Sterk had left for San Diego State.
What this all portends for MU can’t be known. But it reminds us that Sterk’s bold statement came with a careful-what-you-wish-for caveat — the potential for a downward spiral instead of a jump-start if you don’t get the right man for the job.
Sure, Mizzou should want to win more than it loses and at the peak of a cycle be able to compete for a divisional title and more. Sure, it needs a coach to stir a frustrated and increasingly apathetic fan base. And winning Day One, the press conference, is ultimately less important than being a winner by Day 1,000 and on.
But the notion of creating that kind of initial buzz seems to be dwindling.
As to whether MU will be better off in four years than it was four years ago, or, more to the point, at the end of Odom’s tenure?
Here’s hoping Sterk understood the landscape better than seems apparent just now as the burden of proof intensifies daily.