Great blog post. Here are what he said specifically about Norm and Pinkel. I'll link the blog for those that want to read the whole thing. It's a good read.
NORM STEWART: the Mizzou basketball coach was right there with La Russa for his fierce competitiveness. We clashed when I was a young columnist, because Norm liked to test people — especially those varmint journalists — just to see how far he could push. One of the golden rules of sportswriting is to never allow someone to intimidate you, because it's a sign of weakness that weakens your credibility. So in my dealings with the Stormin' version of Norm, I was determined to stand my ground. I had to. That said, I could have handled this rite of passage much better than I did; I overreacted at times, and (metaphorically) pushed back too hard. What I learned: A lot. This was a valuable experience for me, learning how to deal with intimidating and edgy personalities. It was part of my education in the column business, and you may be surprised to see me write that I'm thankful to Norm Stewart for testing me in a way that forced me to figure things out, and find a smarter and more professional way to deal with certain situations. I also learned two other things: (1) the man was a helluva basketball coach; (2) if anyone ever loved the state of Missouri more than Norm Stewart, you'll have to work very hard to convince me of it. As I sit here today, all of my feelings about Coach Stewart are fond and respectful. He's a Missouri legend. Coach doesn't even know what he did for me, so maybe someone can show this to him. If so ... thanks, Norm.
GARY PINKEL: I respect the job he's done with the Mizzou football program as much as I respect the work done by the likes of Herzog, La Russa, etc. I'm not obsessed over Pinkel's so-called failures. No, he hasn't won a conference championship. He hasn't won a national championship. That's regrettable, especially the conference-title part. But I've been around long enough to remember (all too well) those depressing Saturdays at Faurot Field ... years and years of incessant losing, futility, irrelevancy, hopelessness, and gloomy two-hour drives back to St. Louis or Kansas City. I've been around long enough to remember Mizzou football coaches getting hired, vowing to restore the roar, only to lose games by 77 points at Oklahoma or be embarrassed by Kansas, and shrinking before the inevitable firing. I remember Mizzou surrendering the home-base recruiting areas to programs that had no business landing the best prospects. Mizzou football was a running joke, and those Saturday games were cartoons, with the same mishaps befalling the Tigers week after week. Pinkel changed all of that, dramatically so. He built a program that's been ranked No. 1 in the nation, a program worthy of inclusion in the SEC — the most powerful and prestigious conference in the sport. And Pinkel built a MU program that not only was invited into the SEC, but has won the last two East Division championships. The best evidence of Pinkel's sensational job? He's constructed a program that wins consistently, and he's developing players that become first-round NFL draft picks .... and yet, that isn't good enough for some people. Mizzou now has a football team that's so prominent and successful, all that's left for the critics is to caterwaul and portray Pinkel as an abject failure because he hasn't won titles. For those of us who suffered through the bad old days, this is hysterical. A few years back, after that first SEC season, I thought Coach Pinkel was slipping, maybe losing some of the fire, but that wasn't true. Early on in his career at Mizzou, I feared Pinkel wouldn't make it; his social skills were lacking, he had a tendency to get hot-headed and impatient, and he showed little interest in networking with alums and boosters. This is the kind of thing that can get a coach fired before he really has a chance to get his program going. But this is what I learned: One of Pinkel's greatest strengths is his ability to adapt and adjust. He's smart enough to know that he doesn't know everything. Instead of just saying, "What the heck, I'm close to retiring, I'm just going to keep doing what I do, and I don't care if people like it or not," — Pinkel's pride won't permit complacency. His self-awareness leads to him making positive corrections and changes, and MU keeps going. It's a good lesson: don't fall into the trap of thinking you're all set. Adapt and adjust.
Link to Article: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_ac7eae87-012b-5422-b12a-a2e806960f67.html
NORM STEWART: the Mizzou basketball coach was right there with La Russa for his fierce competitiveness. We clashed when I was a young columnist, because Norm liked to test people — especially those varmint journalists — just to see how far he could push. One of the golden rules of sportswriting is to never allow someone to intimidate you, because it's a sign of weakness that weakens your credibility. So in my dealings with the Stormin' version of Norm, I was determined to stand my ground. I had to. That said, I could have handled this rite of passage much better than I did; I overreacted at times, and (metaphorically) pushed back too hard. What I learned: A lot. This was a valuable experience for me, learning how to deal with intimidating and edgy personalities. It was part of my education in the column business, and you may be surprised to see me write that I'm thankful to Norm Stewart for testing me in a way that forced me to figure things out, and find a smarter and more professional way to deal with certain situations. I also learned two other things: (1) the man was a helluva basketball coach; (2) if anyone ever loved the state of Missouri more than Norm Stewart, you'll have to work very hard to convince me of it. As I sit here today, all of my feelings about Coach Stewart are fond and respectful. He's a Missouri legend. Coach doesn't even know what he did for me, so maybe someone can show this to him. If so ... thanks, Norm.
GARY PINKEL: I respect the job he's done with the Mizzou football program as much as I respect the work done by the likes of Herzog, La Russa, etc. I'm not obsessed over Pinkel's so-called failures. No, he hasn't won a conference championship. He hasn't won a national championship. That's regrettable, especially the conference-title part. But I've been around long enough to remember (all too well) those depressing Saturdays at Faurot Field ... years and years of incessant losing, futility, irrelevancy, hopelessness, and gloomy two-hour drives back to St. Louis or Kansas City. I've been around long enough to remember Mizzou football coaches getting hired, vowing to restore the roar, only to lose games by 77 points at Oklahoma or be embarrassed by Kansas, and shrinking before the inevitable firing. I remember Mizzou surrendering the home-base recruiting areas to programs that had no business landing the best prospects. Mizzou football was a running joke, and those Saturday games were cartoons, with the same mishaps befalling the Tigers week after week. Pinkel changed all of that, dramatically so. He built a program that's been ranked No. 1 in the nation, a program worthy of inclusion in the SEC — the most powerful and prestigious conference in the sport. And Pinkel built a MU program that not only was invited into the SEC, but has won the last two East Division championships. The best evidence of Pinkel's sensational job? He's constructed a program that wins consistently, and he's developing players that become first-round NFL draft picks .... and yet, that isn't good enough for some people. Mizzou now has a football team that's so prominent and successful, all that's left for the critics is to caterwaul and portray Pinkel as an abject failure because he hasn't won titles. For those of us who suffered through the bad old days, this is hysterical. A few years back, after that first SEC season, I thought Coach Pinkel was slipping, maybe losing some of the fire, but that wasn't true. Early on in his career at Mizzou, I feared Pinkel wouldn't make it; his social skills were lacking, he had a tendency to get hot-headed and impatient, and he showed little interest in networking with alums and boosters. This is the kind of thing that can get a coach fired before he really has a chance to get his program going. But this is what I learned: One of Pinkel's greatest strengths is his ability to adapt and adjust. He's smart enough to know that he doesn't know everything. Instead of just saying, "What the heck, I'm close to retiring, I'm just going to keep doing what I do, and I don't care if people like it or not," — Pinkel's pride won't permit complacency. His self-awareness leads to him making positive corrections and changes, and MU keeps going. It's a good lesson: don't fall into the trap of thinking you're all set. Adapt and adjust.
Link to Article: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_ac7eae87-012b-5422-b12a-a2e806960f67.html
