Spring football is about to kick off and the men’s team is gearing up for a post-season run, but first we have to unpack the big news in women’s basketball that became official this week.
Robin Pingeton announced she would not return as the head coach on Thursday. The decision had been made for about a year, but the Tigers were able to save some money (about $400,000) by letting this season play out with her at the helm.
With the changing landscape of finances in college sports, plus the unexpected exit of Desiree Reed-Francois last year at about the time a coaching search would have begun, it made sense to let Pingeton finish out her contract and look for options this year.
So, let’s run through some possible coaches.
The one whose name should pop up a lot is Molly Miller from Grand Canyon. In her fifth year at Grand Canyon, the Lopes are 25-2 and 12-0 in WAC play. Grand Canyon hasn’t been worse than 18-7 in her time there. She also coached six years at her alma mater, Drury, regularly leading the Panthers to 25-win seasons and even went 32-0 in the 2019-20.
The issue is, Miller’s going to be one of the most highly-sought candidates this off-season, so it’s going to turn into a question of how much money the Tigers are willing to put into the program. She has the local connections, came from the state and has the pedigree at lower levels to have earned a step up, but will the Tigers want to pony up the cash?
The Tigers could also stay a little closer to home with Missouri State’s Beth Cunningham. Cunningham is in Year 3 with the Lady Bears and has led them to a 22-5 overall record with a 14-2 record in Missouri Valley Conference play. She has been a college coach for more than 20 years and was an assistant at Duke and Notre Dame before taking the job in Springfield. Cunningham was part of an incredibly successful run with the Irish, so she has the experience at high-level programs and understands how they’re built.
There’s likely a cheaper option that already has a connection to Athletic Director Laird Veatch and that is Cincinnati’s Katrina Merriweather. Merriweather was the head coach at Memphis under Veatch and went 22-11 in the 2022-23 season, which was Memphis’ first 20-win season in more than a decade. She was also a bench coach when USA Basketball earned a silver medal in the 2023 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup, but Cincinnati is her alma mater so it’s possible she is happy sticking there.
The Tigers could look at Harvard’s Carrie Moore, who has her team at 20-3 in her second season with the Crimson. She was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Michigan and helped lead the Wolverines to an Elite Eight and a 25-7 record in 2021-22. They could also look at a couple of current assistants in Calamity McIntyre from Illinois, who has also spent time at Texas, Dayton, Hawaii, Arizona, Boise State all as an assistant and recruiting coordinator. Or they could look at Oklahoma State’s Jhasmyn Player who has helped guide the Cowgirls back to prominence.
Former Tennessee coach Kelli Harper will likely be a name thrown around as well. She’s had SEC success and isn’t currently with a team. After winning three championships with the Volunteers as a player, Harper played one WNBA season and hopped into coaching at Auburn and Chattanooga as an assistant before becoming a 20-year head coach at Western Carolina, North Carolina State, Missouri State (2013-19) and Tennessee (2019-2024). Harper’s had success as a player and a coach at the highest levels and could be a good option, but once again, likely pretty expensive.
First up is obviously quarterback. The Tigers are replacing a three-year starter with likely either a transfer who has played as a gadget option or a junior coming off a major injury who hasn’t played a serious snap.
Both Beau Pribula and Sam Horn were pretty highly-touted coming out of high school and both offer major upsides, but the most interesting part to me is the differences in their skill sets. I think the Tiger offense will look pretty different next year depending on which one of them is taking snaps. If Horn gets the job it might look a lot like the offense we saw in the first two years of Kirby Moore’s tenure as offensive coordinator. If it’s Pribula… oh boy, it might be very different.
I don’t expect a starter to be named by the end of spring camp, the staff is going to want to have that competition open throughout the summer and possibly into the fall. I’m just hoping it’s determined by the time the season starts.
The other major position battle is at offensive line. With three open spots there’s going to be a lot of competition. The Tigers brought in three transfer options, and you would think they might all just slot in. Johnny Williams, however, was a backup tackle in his lone season of college ball and Dominick Guidice was a backup center who the Tigers would likely be moving to guard. The transfer (Keagen Trost), meanwhile, is about the oldest player left in college football. Plus, the Tigers have a lot of young offensive linemen they brought in through high school recruiting who should have a shot to earn a spot. How that group plays out is going to be very interesting.
I guess safety is the main position battle to watch on defense. There’s a lot to replace and a lot of new options that came through the transfer portal (Santana Banner, Jalen Catalon and Mose Phillips) and high school recruiting (CJ Bass). I think any of those four could earn some amount of time. It will also be important to keep an eye on Marvin Burks and whether he’s progressing, because if he struggles as much as he did last year, that could be another open spot for one of the new guys.
The argument to burn the redshirt this late is the landscape of college sports. You don’t think about three or four years from now; you’ve got a shot to do something big this year and if he can help, you get him in there.
My question is how much Burns could really help at this point. He’s a freshman big with a pretty slim build for his size who hasn’t played a possession of college basketball and would be jumping straight into SEC competition and the tournament. I think there’s just more ramping up that would be necessary for the majority of players, but maybe the staff thinks he’s one of those guys who doesn’t need it the way others would. I guess we’ll see.
An interesting story, and it’s coming about fourth-hand at this point (so big grain of salt), but I heard from an NBA source that during Burns’ recruitment, Dennis Gates’ staff was able to convince him to go to Good Vision Academy for his senior year. Good Vision is a small prep school whose games are hard to track film from as a way to keep him from getting noticed and flipped.
David Gabriel Georges: Offered by Luper in February, Gabriel Georges is a native of Canada who transferred to Chattanooga (Tenn.) Baylor School for his sophomore season. Missouri has frequented Tennessee before, with the help of wide receivers coach Jacob Peeler, but the program hasn’t landed a recruit from Baylor School, though that program has produced plenty of talent for SEC schools.
Tyson Robinson: Ranked the top running back in the Rivals250, Robinson would be a dream get for Missouri, but the connection between the two parties appeared to grow more distant after Robinson backed out of his unofficial visit in November to see Mississippi instead. Robinson previously visited this past summer, yet his eyes have turned to other schools, including Oklahoma, more recently.
Wayne Shanks Jr.: Transferring to Houston (Tex.) Kinkaid for his sophomore season, Shanks thrived as a runner and passer, putting himself on the radar of more than 15 programs in the past year. His advanced football knowledge for his age, coupled with his interest in Luper’s coaching background, makes him a premier target early on.
Trey Stewart: Missouri 2026 commit Anthony Kennedy Jr. transferring to Little Rock (Ark.) Central at semester opened a new door for recruiting at Missouri. Eli Drinkwitz and Al Davis visited in January and inquired about a few prospects, including Stewart, who visited a week later and received his offer from Luper. The Tigers were early on Stewart, who has been heralded as one of the best pure athletes in Arkansas.
In the Class of 2026, four-star edge defender Kamhariyan Johnson emerged as a serious target when he scheduled his first unofficial visit to Missouri for Junior Day in January. Johnson backed out of that visit and went to Tennessee instead, telling MizzouToday he and his parents felt like it was best not to visit that weekend.
Talking with his teammate, Keivay Foster, for a different story this past week, it sounded like Missouri isn’t in the picture as a primary interest for Johnson, who has scheduled official visits to Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Finally we have official confirmation, so let’s talk about some options.Robin Pingeton announced she would not return as the head coach on Thursday. The decision had been made for about a year, but the Tigers were able to save some money (about $400,000) by letting this season play out with her at the helm.
With the changing landscape of finances in college sports, plus the unexpected exit of Desiree Reed-Francois last year at about the time a coaching search would have begun, it made sense to let Pingeton finish out her contract and look for options this year.
So, let’s run through some possible coaches.
The one whose name should pop up a lot is Molly Miller from Grand Canyon. In her fifth year at Grand Canyon, the Lopes are 25-2 and 12-0 in WAC play. Grand Canyon hasn’t been worse than 18-7 in her time there. She also coached six years at her alma mater, Drury, regularly leading the Panthers to 25-win seasons and even went 32-0 in the 2019-20.
The issue is, Miller’s going to be one of the most highly-sought candidates this off-season, so it’s going to turn into a question of how much money the Tigers are willing to put into the program. She has the local connections, came from the state and has the pedigree at lower levels to have earned a step up, but will the Tigers want to pony up the cash?
The Tigers could also stay a little closer to home with Missouri State’s Beth Cunningham. Cunningham is in Year 3 with the Lady Bears and has led them to a 22-5 overall record with a 14-2 record in Missouri Valley Conference play. She has been a college coach for more than 20 years and was an assistant at Duke and Notre Dame before taking the job in Springfield. Cunningham was part of an incredibly successful run with the Irish, so she has the experience at high-level programs and understands how they’re built.
There’s likely a cheaper option that already has a connection to Athletic Director Laird Veatch and that is Cincinnati’s Katrina Merriweather. Merriweather was the head coach at Memphis under Veatch and went 22-11 in the 2022-23 season, which was Memphis’ first 20-win season in more than a decade. She was also a bench coach when USA Basketball earned a silver medal in the 2023 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup, but Cincinnati is her alma mater so it’s possible she is happy sticking there.
The Tigers could look at Harvard’s Carrie Moore, who has her team at 20-3 in her second season with the Crimson. She was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Michigan and helped lead the Wolverines to an Elite Eight and a 25-7 record in 2021-22. They could also look at a couple of current assistants in Calamity McIntyre from Illinois, who has also spent time at Texas, Dayton, Hawaii, Arizona, Boise State all as an assistant and recruiting coordinator. Or they could look at Oklahoma State’s Jhasmyn Player who has helped guide the Cowgirls back to prominence.
Former Tennessee coach Kelli Harper will likely be a name thrown around as well. She’s had SEC success and isn’t currently with a team. After winning three championships with the Volunteers as a player, Harper played one WNBA season and hopped into coaching at Auburn and Chattanooga as an assistant before becoming a 20-year head coach at Western Carolina, North Carolina State, Missouri State (2013-19) and Tennessee (2019-2024). Harper’s had success as a player and a coach at the highest levels and could be a good option, but once again, likely pretty expensive.
FOOTBALL
With spring practice beginning today, and the first media availability coming tomorrow, I figured this would be a good place to talk about some of the biggest position battles I’m going to be watching.First up is obviously quarterback. The Tigers are replacing a three-year starter with likely either a transfer who has played as a gadget option or a junior coming off a major injury who hasn’t played a serious snap.
Both Beau Pribula and Sam Horn were pretty highly-touted coming out of high school and both offer major upsides, but the most interesting part to me is the differences in their skill sets. I think the Tiger offense will look pretty different next year depending on which one of them is taking snaps. If Horn gets the job it might look a lot like the offense we saw in the first two years of Kirby Moore’s tenure as offensive coordinator. If it’s Pribula… oh boy, it might be very different.
I don’t expect a starter to be named by the end of spring camp, the staff is going to want to have that competition open throughout the summer and possibly into the fall. I’m just hoping it’s determined by the time the season starts.
The other major position battle is at offensive line. With three open spots there’s going to be a lot of competition. The Tigers brought in three transfer options, and you would think they might all just slot in. Johnny Williams, however, was a backup tackle in his lone season of college ball and Dominick Guidice was a backup center who the Tigers would likely be moving to guard. The transfer (Keagen Trost), meanwhile, is about the oldest player left in college football. Plus, the Tigers have a lot of young offensive linemen they brought in through high school recruiting who should have a shot to earn a spot. How that group plays out is going to be very interesting.
I guess safety is the main position battle to watch on defense. There’s a lot to replace and a lot of new options that came through the transfer portal (Santana Banner, Jalen Catalon and Mose Phillips) and high school recruiting (CJ Bass). I think any of those four could earn some amount of time. It will also be important to keep an eye on Marvin Burks and whether he’s progressing, because if he struggles as much as he did last year, that could be another open spot for one of the new guys.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
We got a bit of a surprise with Trent Burns listed as a “game-time decision” going into Tuesday’s game instead of “out.” That was the first time this season Burns wasn’t fully unavailable and it brings up the question of whether the Tigers will burn his redshirt at this point.The argument to burn the redshirt this late is the landscape of college sports. You don’t think about three or four years from now; you’ve got a shot to do something big this year and if he can help, you get him in there.
My question is how much Burns could really help at this point. He’s a freshman big with a pretty slim build for his size who hasn’t played a possession of college basketball and would be jumping straight into SEC competition and the tournament. I think there’s just more ramping up that would be necessary for the majority of players, but maybe the staff thinks he’s one of those guys who doesn’t need it the way others would. I guess we’ll see.
An interesting story, and it’s coming about fourth-hand at this point (so big grain of salt), but I heard from an NBA source that during Burns’ recruitment, Dennis Gates’ staff was able to convince him to go to Good Vision Academy for his senior year. Good Vision is a small prep school whose games are hard to track film from as a way to keep him from getting noticed and flipped.
RECRUITING
Missouri staffer Curtis Luper told Houston (Tex.) Kinkaid athlete Wayne Shanks Jr. this past week the Tigers will target two running backs in the 2027 class. While the 2027 class only recently became more of a focus, there have been plenty of offers that have gone out in the class. Missouri has so far offered six running backs, two all-purpose backs and two athletes that the Tigers see in the backfield. Among those runners, here’s a way-to-early group to monitor:David Gabriel Georges: Offered by Luper in February, Gabriel Georges is a native of Canada who transferred to Chattanooga (Tenn.) Baylor School for his sophomore season. Missouri has frequented Tennessee before, with the help of wide receivers coach Jacob Peeler, but the program hasn’t landed a recruit from Baylor School, though that program has produced plenty of talent for SEC schools.
Tyson Robinson: Ranked the top running back in the Rivals250, Robinson would be a dream get for Missouri, but the connection between the two parties appeared to grow more distant after Robinson backed out of his unofficial visit in November to see Mississippi instead. Robinson previously visited this past summer, yet his eyes have turned to other schools, including Oklahoma, more recently.
Wayne Shanks Jr.: Transferring to Houston (Tex.) Kinkaid for his sophomore season, Shanks thrived as a runner and passer, putting himself on the radar of more than 15 programs in the past year. His advanced football knowledge for his age, coupled with his interest in Luper’s coaching background, makes him a premier target early on.
Trey Stewart: Missouri 2026 commit Anthony Kennedy Jr. transferring to Little Rock (Ark.) Central at semester opened a new door for recruiting at Missouri. Eli Drinkwitz and Al Davis visited in January and inquired about a few prospects, including Stewart, who visited a week later and received his offer from Luper. The Tigers were early on Stewart, who has been heralded as one of the best pure athletes in Arkansas.
In the Class of 2026, four-star edge defender Kamhariyan Johnson emerged as a serious target when he scheduled his first unofficial visit to Missouri for Junior Day in January. Johnson backed out of that visit and went to Tennessee instead, telling MizzouToday he and his parents felt like it was best not to visit that weekend.
Talking with his teammate, Keivay Foster, for a different story this past week, it sounded like Missouri isn’t in the picture as a primary interest for Johnson, who has scheduled official visits to Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
