UPDATED AT 10:10 PM
I lied, The first update was the last update. To my knowledge, nothing else has happened. We're on hold
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All right guys. It's chaos. There's no other word for it. So here's everything I know about how we got here. This has been compiled from all of my sources over the last three weeks. If there is speculation on my part here, I will note that it is speculation. I haven't written this to this point because there was no purpose to be served. Given where we are now, I think it's time to write it.
In the last two weeks of the regular season, I told you there was debate about whether to fire Barry Odom or not. I've reported that I thought Jim Sterk was leaning that way all along. Not everyone felt that way. This is not news to you. There were discussions had.
The week before the Tennessee game Sterk and Odom met. It didn't go well. Odom walked out of that meeting thinking he was getting fired. However, the truth is, if he'd won the last two games, he wouldn't have gotten fired. Sterk wasn't going to fire a guy that was 7-5 at Missouri with three straight winning seasons. Then Missouri lost to Tennessee. Odom and the staff felt like they were getting fired.
But even during the week of the Arkansas game, that wasn't certain. There were meetings had among the power brokers, some of whom thought if Odom could get to 6-6 he should keep his job. Part of that was a skepticism about whether Missouri would be able to hire someone that was viewed as an upgrade.
I don't know the exact details. But multiple sources have told me at some time leading up to the Arkansas game, something happened to basically strain Sterk and Odom's relationship even further. The way it was presented to me, I believe that Odom thought he was fired anyway and he was going to get some parting shots in on his way out the door. The irony is that without that, I think it's possible he could have stayed. Once whatever happened happened, I think a line was drawn. It was going to be Sterk or Odom but it wasn't going to be both. Sterk won because frankly Barry had no leverage or power.
So Sterk fired Odom. But even going in, there was some level of awareness that the candidate pool might be a bit shallow, at least in terms of the way fans would view it. I believe Jim Sterk and the department thought they would go out and get a coach that was an upgrade to Odom. But I'm not sure it was going to be a guy that the fanbase, or even some of the administration, viewed that way. It is my opinion that the blowup in the last few days led to a decision that may not have been made prior and may have put Missouri in a situation where it was embarking on a search that it might not have embarked on just a few days before.
Either way, you guys know how it's unfolded over the last five days. I'm not going to tell you our lists and updates have been 100% accurate, but last night, as Dave Matter and I have both now reported, the names Blake Anderson, Jeff Monken and Skip Holtz were presented to select members of the BOC, I believe as some sort of trial balloon. Anderson and Holtz have been on every hot board we've done and Monken was added on the second day of the search. There's never been any big name candidate. Mike Norvell and Bryan Harsin declined interest in the job. Those were the biggest names. There was no Kyle Whittingham or anything like that at any point.
When presented with these three names, the response was more or less, "These aren't good enough. You can't fire Barry Odom and replace him with these guys. At least not without looking into some better, or at least some more, candidates." Of the three, Blake Anderson was considered the leader. We've verified with sources at Arkansas State that they expected to lose their head football coach to Missouri as recently as this morning. That is obviously now very uncertain.
Basically, there is a desire for Missouri to go vet more candidates. So the timeline seems to have been pushed back. But here's the other thing that creates: What if they come back and say Anderson's the best guy that wants the job? Does he want it anymore? Because at this point, if you're Anderson, Holtz or Monken, you know that at least part of the administration has said they don't think you're the right guy. Can they get a bigger name or a better hire? If they can, why couldn't they this week? Does Jim Sterk have the power to go lead this search now? What is the relationship between Sterk, Mun Choi, Alexander Cartwright, the board members, etc? Those are all things that I'm not quite ready to speculate on, but that are very much in play here.
Our hot board is now basically useless. Maybe those guys are all candidates, but for the reasons I listed above, maybe they aren't. If they aren't, who are the candidates?
As I told my wife, "The coaching search just went nuclear." I'm not sure it's 2017 Tennessee yet, but I'm not sure it isn't. I've reached out to an athletic department spokesman to see if they have any response to what we have written. If we get a response, I will pass it on.
Stay tuned. I'm sure this is not our last update this evening.
I lied, The first update was the last update. To my knowledge, nothing else has happened. We're on hold
---
All right guys. It's chaos. There's no other word for it. So here's everything I know about how we got here. This has been compiled from all of my sources over the last three weeks. If there is speculation on my part here, I will note that it is speculation. I haven't written this to this point because there was no purpose to be served. Given where we are now, I think it's time to write it.
In the last two weeks of the regular season, I told you there was debate about whether to fire Barry Odom or not. I've reported that I thought Jim Sterk was leaning that way all along. Not everyone felt that way. This is not news to you. There were discussions had.
The week before the Tennessee game Sterk and Odom met. It didn't go well. Odom walked out of that meeting thinking he was getting fired. However, the truth is, if he'd won the last two games, he wouldn't have gotten fired. Sterk wasn't going to fire a guy that was 7-5 at Missouri with three straight winning seasons. Then Missouri lost to Tennessee. Odom and the staff felt like they were getting fired.
But even during the week of the Arkansas game, that wasn't certain. There were meetings had among the power brokers, some of whom thought if Odom could get to 6-6 he should keep his job. Part of that was a skepticism about whether Missouri would be able to hire someone that was viewed as an upgrade.
I don't know the exact details. But multiple sources have told me at some time leading up to the Arkansas game, something happened to basically strain Sterk and Odom's relationship even further. The way it was presented to me, I believe that Odom thought he was fired anyway and he was going to get some parting shots in on his way out the door. The irony is that without that, I think it's possible he could have stayed. Once whatever happened happened, I think a line was drawn. It was going to be Sterk or Odom but it wasn't going to be both. Sterk won because frankly Barry had no leverage or power.
So Sterk fired Odom. But even going in, there was some level of awareness that the candidate pool might be a bit shallow, at least in terms of the way fans would view it. I believe Jim Sterk and the department thought they would go out and get a coach that was an upgrade to Odom. But I'm not sure it was going to be a guy that the fanbase, or even some of the administration, viewed that way. It is my opinion that the blowup in the last few days led to a decision that may not have been made prior and may have put Missouri in a situation where it was embarking on a search that it might not have embarked on just a few days before.
Either way, you guys know how it's unfolded over the last five days. I'm not going to tell you our lists and updates have been 100% accurate, but last night, as Dave Matter and I have both now reported, the names Blake Anderson, Jeff Monken and Skip Holtz were presented to select members of the BOC, I believe as some sort of trial balloon. Anderson and Holtz have been on every hot board we've done and Monken was added on the second day of the search. There's never been any big name candidate. Mike Norvell and Bryan Harsin declined interest in the job. Those were the biggest names. There was no Kyle Whittingham or anything like that at any point.
When presented with these three names, the response was more or less, "These aren't good enough. You can't fire Barry Odom and replace him with these guys. At least not without looking into some better, or at least some more, candidates." Of the three, Blake Anderson was considered the leader. We've verified with sources at Arkansas State that they expected to lose their head football coach to Missouri as recently as this morning. That is obviously now very uncertain.
Basically, there is a desire for Missouri to go vet more candidates. So the timeline seems to have been pushed back. But here's the other thing that creates: What if they come back and say Anderson's the best guy that wants the job? Does he want it anymore? Because at this point, if you're Anderson, Holtz or Monken, you know that at least part of the administration has said they don't think you're the right guy. Can they get a bigger name or a better hire? If they can, why couldn't they this week? Does Jim Sterk have the power to go lead this search now? What is the relationship between Sterk, Mun Choi, Alexander Cartwright, the board members, etc? Those are all things that I'm not quite ready to speculate on, but that are very much in play here.
Our hot board is now basically useless. Maybe those guys are all candidates, but for the reasons I listed above, maybe they aren't. If they aren't, who are the candidates?
As I told my wife, "The coaching search just went nuclear." I'm not sure it's 2017 Tennessee yet, but I'm not sure it isn't. I've reached out to an athletic department spokesman to see if they have any response to what we have written. If we get a response, I will pass it on.
Stay tuned. I'm sure this is not our last update this evening.
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