Here's everything from Day One.
We're going to start today talking about some guys we are confident are NOT going to get the job. Before anyone gets super depressed, this is kind of how coaching searches go. It's far easier to eliminate guys that aren't interested than it is to confirm guys that are. There's no real attempt at secrecy if someone isn't a candidate. But if they are, there's a coordinated attempt to lock that down. I think that might be the case in this coaching search even more than some of the ones we've covered in the past. Since the Eli Drinkwitz search and the very public leaks that happened, Mun Choi has been adamant about keeping things quiet. During the athletic director search, there was almost no information. Nobody at Mizzou was talking at all. I'm pretty confident that was a directive from on high and I had a few people afterwards tell me that indeed it had been communicated that the Mizzou brass didn't have any desire to be reading any details about the search or the candidates in the media. We even had one person ask how we managed to put together a list that was pretty accurate as far as the ultimate candidates. The truth is, it was common sense. There wasn't much, if any, information flowing. I kind of expect this one to be the same. We're going to have to get information from non-traditional places.
But, again, it's easier to get information about people that aren't going to get, or aren't going to take, the job. So let's talk about that.
Scott Drew: As I posted yesterday, I talked to someone who knows Drew and spoke to him last week. I was told flat out "he's not going to Missouri." I'm very confident in saying the same about Georgia even though I didn't talk with this person about Georgia. He's not taking that job. Jeff Goodman tweeted yesterday the reports about Drew and UGA talking were 100% false. He also tweeted yesterday that you can strike Drew's name off any list of candidates for LSU. Seems pretty obvious to me Goodman is getting that information either straight from Drew or someone very close to him.
Porter Moser: This one didn't seem right from the start to me and I said as much yesterday. I talked with someone I know in Norman who didn't outright shoot it down, but said he'd be surprised. Moser has only been at Oklahoma for a year and Joe Castiglione has the reputation as a really good AD to work for. Moser makes 2.8 million, but OU has the money to match anything Missouri could do if it wanted to. But I don't think it's even going to get that far. I had someone else tell me last night there's nothing to any talk of Moser.
Sean Miller: It's not happening guys. I know I wrote a column on Friday night saying it should happen. And I really did believe it at that time. Missouri didn't. There wasn't going to be any real interest in Miller. The closest I got was "Maybe if this wasn't one of the most penalized schools in the last 30 years just coming off probation..." Then on Saturday afternoon Will Wade got fired and the LSU Notice of Allegations came out and I don't believe Missouri should or will pursue Miller anymore. The entire premise of my argument was "Nothing has happened to any of the proven cheaters." It has now. That changes the equation. At least for me. And, like I said, Miller wasn't getting this job anyway.
Gregg Marshall: I don't feel like I should even have to put this name here, but I keep seeing people suggest it. Marshall is unhireable. Marshall "resigned" at Wichita State (keep in mind, a place he took to unprecedented basketball success) after an investigation into multiple allegations of verbal and physical abuse. Most notably, he was accused of punching Shaq Morris, one of his players, and choking assistant coach Kyle Lindsted. Marshall denied the allegations, but also took $7.75 million to walk away. The juice isn't worth the squeeze on this one, folks.
John Beilein: I know what was posted here yesterday. My information after doing a little bit of checking from a source I believe (worth noting, not a source at Missouri or connected to the Missouri search) was "100% false." Unequivocally. I know many will choose to believe what was posted here, but all I can say is I completely trust the source on this one.
So, that's a start on a list of guys that aren't going to be Missouri's next coach. Who still could be? Well, pretty much anybody else. You'll notice I didn't put Dana Altman on that list above. The same person who told me last night that Porter Moser wouldn't be a candidate told me "There might be something to the Altman stuff." I ran both Altman and Moser's names by a few people in college athletics yesterday and the response was pretty much always "Moser doesn't really make any sense to me. Altman makes a little bit more." I don't want you guys to get out over your skis on this one (I say this, but know it won't matter). There are still significant question marks for me as to why Altman would move. And there's the matter of him making $3.775 million and having a $4 million buyout. So in a world where Altman is Mizzou's head coach next year, it means Mizzou would have paid $10 million in buyouts and somewhere north of $4 million in salary for next year alone before we even get to the staff.
That's steep, but I don't think it's necessarily impossible. Many believed that the Tigers wouldn't move on from Martin due to finances. That obviously proved to be false. You don't fire a coach if you aren't at least prepared to pay the next one more than he was making. I've been told by a couple of people that money will be there for the right guy. Now, I want to be clear, I'm told this virtually every time Missouri goes out looking for a coach. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't, but there's never any real way to prove if money was there because whoever they hire, they're going to say he was the best guy for the job and they're going to pay him somewhere around market value. So if they go with a mid-major coach, they're not going to pay him $4.5 million just because they can. But would they pay that much (or more) for the right coach? I think it's definitely possible. One source (who also told me on Thursday afternoon minutes after the end of the LSU game that Martin would be out by the end of the weekend) said “we’re committed to spending a significant amount of money.” So we'll see.
We're going to start today talking about some guys we are confident are NOT going to get the job. Before anyone gets super depressed, this is kind of how coaching searches go. It's far easier to eliminate guys that aren't interested than it is to confirm guys that are. There's no real attempt at secrecy if someone isn't a candidate. But if they are, there's a coordinated attempt to lock that down. I think that might be the case in this coaching search even more than some of the ones we've covered in the past. Since the Eli Drinkwitz search and the very public leaks that happened, Mun Choi has been adamant about keeping things quiet. During the athletic director search, there was almost no information. Nobody at Mizzou was talking at all. I'm pretty confident that was a directive from on high and I had a few people afterwards tell me that indeed it had been communicated that the Mizzou brass didn't have any desire to be reading any details about the search or the candidates in the media. We even had one person ask how we managed to put together a list that was pretty accurate as far as the ultimate candidates. The truth is, it was common sense. There wasn't much, if any, information flowing. I kind of expect this one to be the same. We're going to have to get information from non-traditional places.
But, again, it's easier to get information about people that aren't going to get, or aren't going to take, the job. So let's talk about that.
Scott Drew: As I posted yesterday, I talked to someone who knows Drew and spoke to him last week. I was told flat out "he's not going to Missouri." I'm very confident in saying the same about Georgia even though I didn't talk with this person about Georgia. He's not taking that job. Jeff Goodman tweeted yesterday the reports about Drew and UGA talking were 100% false. He also tweeted yesterday that you can strike Drew's name off any list of candidates for LSU. Seems pretty obvious to me Goodman is getting that information either straight from Drew or someone very close to him.
Porter Moser: This one didn't seem right from the start to me and I said as much yesterday. I talked with someone I know in Norman who didn't outright shoot it down, but said he'd be surprised. Moser has only been at Oklahoma for a year and Joe Castiglione has the reputation as a really good AD to work for. Moser makes 2.8 million, but OU has the money to match anything Missouri could do if it wanted to. But I don't think it's even going to get that far. I had someone else tell me last night there's nothing to any talk of Moser.
Sean Miller: It's not happening guys. I know I wrote a column on Friday night saying it should happen. And I really did believe it at that time. Missouri didn't. There wasn't going to be any real interest in Miller. The closest I got was "Maybe if this wasn't one of the most penalized schools in the last 30 years just coming off probation..." Then on Saturday afternoon Will Wade got fired and the LSU Notice of Allegations came out and I don't believe Missouri should or will pursue Miller anymore. The entire premise of my argument was "Nothing has happened to any of the proven cheaters." It has now. That changes the equation. At least for me. And, like I said, Miller wasn't getting this job anyway.
Gregg Marshall: I don't feel like I should even have to put this name here, but I keep seeing people suggest it. Marshall is unhireable. Marshall "resigned" at Wichita State (keep in mind, a place he took to unprecedented basketball success) after an investigation into multiple allegations of verbal and physical abuse. Most notably, he was accused of punching Shaq Morris, one of his players, and choking assistant coach Kyle Lindsted. Marshall denied the allegations, but also took $7.75 million to walk away. The juice isn't worth the squeeze on this one, folks.
John Beilein: I know what was posted here yesterday. My information after doing a little bit of checking from a source I believe (worth noting, not a source at Missouri or connected to the Missouri search) was "100% false." Unequivocally. I know many will choose to believe what was posted here, but all I can say is I completely trust the source on this one.
So, that's a start on a list of guys that aren't going to be Missouri's next coach. Who still could be? Well, pretty much anybody else. You'll notice I didn't put Dana Altman on that list above. The same person who told me last night that Porter Moser wouldn't be a candidate told me "There might be something to the Altman stuff." I ran both Altman and Moser's names by a few people in college athletics yesterday and the response was pretty much always "Moser doesn't really make any sense to me. Altman makes a little bit more." I don't want you guys to get out over your skis on this one (I say this, but know it won't matter). There are still significant question marks for me as to why Altman would move. And there's the matter of him making $3.775 million and having a $4 million buyout. So in a world where Altman is Mizzou's head coach next year, it means Mizzou would have paid $10 million in buyouts and somewhere north of $4 million in salary for next year alone before we even get to the staff.
That's steep, but I don't think it's necessarily impossible. Many believed that the Tigers wouldn't move on from Martin due to finances. That obviously proved to be false. You don't fire a coach if you aren't at least prepared to pay the next one more than he was making. I've been told by a couple of people that money will be there for the right guy. Now, I want to be clear, I'm told this virtually every time Missouri goes out looking for a coach. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't, but there's never any real way to prove if money was there because whoever they hire, they're going to say he was the best guy for the job and they're going to pay him somewhere around market value. So if they go with a mid-major coach, they're not going to pay him $4.5 million just because they can. But would they pay that much (or more) for the right coach? I think it's definitely possible. One source (who also told me on Thursday afternoon minutes after the end of the LSU game that Martin would be out by the end of the weekend) said “we’re committed to spending a significant amount of money.” So we'll see.
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