This post is not about whether Bill Laurie is a great guy who deserves praise and admiration or something else. That discussions has been had. This post is about whether the biggest mistake Mizzou and its fans ever made was running him off.
Bill Laurie was a starting point guard in the 1973 NCAA championship game (lost to Bill Walton's UCLA). He failed to acquire the Nuggets in 1999, the Grizzlies in 2000, and the Hornets in 2001. Unable to acquire an NBA team, he decided to put his time and money into Mizzou basketball. He was willing to do whatever it took to get back to the NCAA championship game, this time as a booster.
First, Laurie donated $25 million to fund a state-of-the-art basketball arena. He let the basketball program use his private jet. He did the things a major booster does to help recruiting. He was instrumental in luring one of the hottest young coaches (don't let hindsight cloud you on this) and best recruiters from Duke to Mizzou and in putting in place a basketball staff that included John Hammond (later the GM of the Pistons and Bucks) and Igor Kokoskov (later assistant for the Clippers, Pistons, Suns, Cavaliers, Magic, and Jazz).
In short, Laurie made Mizzou relevant. He was Mizzou's version of Phil Knight or T. Boone Pickens.
Unfortunately, he put the name of this company (Paige Sports) on the arena, which meant his daughter's name was on the arena, and he got a DWI from the campus police, and in general Mizzou fans and the public never embraced him as a booster. Quite the opposite, he was reviled and ridiculed.
If your criteria are being relevant, hiring great coaches, recruiting elite players, and winning, the number one mistake we made was running Laurie off. The most intelligent criticism I've heard of him was that he "meddled" in the selection of Snyder, and "we don't want that." Seriously? As if we did better on subsequent hires with Laurie out of the loop? The Snyder hire was a home run at the time. I would have loved to have hired a series of "Quin Snyders" until we got it right. I also think he was more qualified to hire a basketball coach than Mike Alden (who had a football background).
Bill Laurie was a starting point guard in the 1973 NCAA championship game (lost to Bill Walton's UCLA). He failed to acquire the Nuggets in 1999, the Grizzlies in 2000, and the Hornets in 2001. Unable to acquire an NBA team, he decided to put his time and money into Mizzou basketball. He was willing to do whatever it took to get back to the NCAA championship game, this time as a booster.
First, Laurie donated $25 million to fund a state-of-the-art basketball arena. He let the basketball program use his private jet. He did the things a major booster does to help recruiting. He was instrumental in luring one of the hottest young coaches (don't let hindsight cloud you on this) and best recruiters from Duke to Mizzou and in putting in place a basketball staff that included John Hammond (later the GM of the Pistons and Bucks) and Igor Kokoskov (later assistant for the Clippers, Pistons, Suns, Cavaliers, Magic, and Jazz).
In short, Laurie made Mizzou relevant. He was Mizzou's version of Phil Knight or T. Boone Pickens.
Unfortunately, he put the name of this company (Paige Sports) on the arena, which meant his daughter's name was on the arena, and he got a DWI from the campus police, and in general Mizzou fans and the public never embraced him as a booster. Quite the opposite, he was reviled and ridiculed.
If your criteria are being relevant, hiring great coaches, recruiting elite players, and winning, the number one mistake we made was running Laurie off. The most intelligent criticism I've heard of him was that he "meddled" in the selection of Snyder, and "we don't want that." Seriously? As if we did better on subsequent hires with Laurie out of the loop? The Snyder hire was a home run at the time. I would have loved to have hired a series of "Quin Snyders" until we got it right. I also think he was more qualified to hire a basketball coach than Mike Alden (who had a football background).
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