Who should Mo Southern Hire
- Thread starter Mofan79
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I guess the kearney fan base gets one and the webb city fan base gets one so why not one for the Doc guys!!!!
Would love to JRod go to MoSo and make something happen but don't see that as likely. For one, not sure he (or any coach) can make them win at football. Second I have a hard time seeing him wanting to leave WC where above average talent flocks to him with no effort, where at MSSU he'd have to actively recuite and would still end up with less talent on the field than many of his opponents. But if he wanted to finish out his career just trying something different without having to move, maybe?
I could see hiring Rod or Bailey generating some local interest in the program because these guys are both coaching legends in SWMO.
One has to wonder if the odd termination of Sims indicates the MSSU admin already has a person in mind who is suddenly available.... Bailey?
I could see hiring Rod or Bailey generating some local interest in the program because these guys are both coaching legends in SWMO.
One has to wonder if the odd termination of Sims indicates the MSSU admin already has a person in mind who is suddenly available.... Bailey?
There's not enough cash in the world to entice Rod to go coach at MoSo.
My god man, you left off Lou Holtz.
Every been to Maryville? Northwest used to be in bottom of the MIAA, in the late 80’s early 90’s. Then some guy named Tjeerdsma showed up. He turned NW into a DII power. So it’s not impossible. Just have to get the right guy.
That right guy could be JRod or Bailey. If Jrod was to be hired, I could see Bailey working for JRod. They played together at Pitt and Bailey was previously an assistant at Southern. This is all speculation and highly unlikely.
If they are serious about getting a winning program, they should look there first. Southern has to be willing to look outside the box and support whoever is hired. Their track record says that they won’t.
What made Tjeerdsma and his staff good was recruiting. They had the talent to find those overlooked kids that didn't go D1 or kids that were D1 that weren't happy and get them to transfer out. No waiting period D1 to D2.
They nationally recruited. Typically makeup of a Tjeerdsma team was 1/3 kids from MO, 1/3 kids from KS, NE, IA and 1/3 rest of country mostly TX, FL, CA.
I know how NW works. My son was part of the 1/3 from MO. It wasn’t always like that. They hit Iowa and Nebraska hard. With national recruiting as you mentioned, after the winning started.
Point being, Joplin should be able to attract kids from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, ect. Dallas is a 6 hour drive. Maryville is no treat. It’s pretty isolated. Joplin has a major interstate running through it. In my opinion Joplin is more desirable than Maryville from a logistical standpoint. If NW can get recruits there why couldn’t the right guy get athletes to Southern. The problem being if they get the right guy will the administration be supportive of him.
Coach Nickerson really knew how to motivate players. And I'll tell you what, Tank didnt quit in that Walnut Heights game!
Coach Reed "you can go anywhere from here" scholarship high....anywhere doesn't include Joplin...that would be a pay cut for sure.
Joe Bettasso Would be a great hire!! He is an alum, he is from Joplin, and would not look to jump ship in a few years. Southern needs to find someone that will be committed to building a program and they need to give them plenty of time and resources to do so.
You're right it's not impossible for the right guy to turn around MoSo, just hard for me to imagine having watched the program be terrible and neglected for so long. Recent presidents have been better at supporting athletics, it was the Leon administration that lasted for about 30 years and could not have cared less about football and did not support athletics in general. I don't know much about the new guy other than he reminds me of the character played by Daniel Day Lewis in the movie There Will Be Blood.
I've always said that IF MSSU could get something going it's ripe for opportunity, especially if they continue to invest in their facilities like they've been doing. Get as much talent as possible from the local schools and all of the COC to generate more local interest and gets more bodies in the stands. I think people from Joplin, Webb, CJ Carthage etc would jump on board if there were some familiar names and a winning team. Rod and Bailey could get more local interest but also maybe some better regional talent too. Obviously I'm biased being from here but I would think Joplin is a decent place to spend 4 years. Not a "cool" college town like Columbia or Fayetteville but it's probably a better than most of the MIAA. Definitely better than Stillwater or Manhattan.
Saban: You will start immediately. Like tomorrow if you want. We will win 4 consecutive championships because of your talent alone. You haven't even been recruited by that directional D2 school in Mississippi or Missouri or Montana or whatever "M" state it's in!
Terrell: So, that's a no on a spooklight, then? You really wasted your time, coach. MoSo it is!
So tired of hearing people blame everything on the Leon administration. He hasn’t been president for 15 years and the school has had three presidents and three or four football coaches since. What it boils down to is Southern just hasn’t made very good hires. Leon hired John Lantz, who went 51-35 and won an MIAA championship. He hired John Ware who really looked to be turning things around before passing away. Then hired Bart Tatum from Northwest, which seemed like a slam dunk at the time. The school also built a new basketball arena and went to the national semifinals under his watch. Hard to say he didn’t care or support athletics. It just wasn’t his number one priority, and MSSU excelled in many other areas because of that. That excuse has been trotted out for years by the department, which has a culture of blaming everyone else for its failures. It’s always because of a lack of community support, or administration support, or crappy facilities. The Lions are 37-92 since Leon left, and 6-49 since opening their new end zone facility.
Raw Meat would be the perfect hire ! 🏈🏈🏈
MSSU has the commuter vibe, the local talent will typically go to PItt State, 25 minutes away, that with the lack of a college feel in the town and lack of tradition makes it an uphill climb. NW has no peer college with the success in a 30 minute, or probably a 2 hour radius, plus the town has a college feel, it is important to the townies more than MSSU is to most in Joplin, at least athletically speaking IMO. So while it is possible, I guess, NW is up and running, PItt State is more attractive and even Central MO is a step up with MO State in the area as well doesn't leave a lot to work with.
You may be right, I just base my comments from the opinions of a few people I know who were pretty knowledgeable on the program back in those days. One guy was good personal friends with coach Lantz. Also was tight with a few alums who were major financial supporters of MSSU and personally knew Leon. So I am inclined to think their statements carry some weight but who knows.
I have no doubt he wasn’t as supportive as some people would have liked, but I don’t think anyone can argue that football wasn’t better under his watch than it’s been since. They never had a stretch as bad as the last four or five years. It just irks me when I still hear people close to the program blame him for their current struggles. He left in 2007. You could start a program from scratch and be winning in less time.
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