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Anderson to ‘Bama Rumors

Posted by Phenomenal Smith on February 11th, 2009 under Basketball

Coach Mike Anderson, much to Boo’s disbelief, has taken the Missouri basketball program from the dregs of scandal and incompetency to respectability and the brink of real success.  The Tigers now stand at 21-4, solidy third in the conference race, set to get its first ever first-round bye in the Big 12 Tourney, and selling out Mizzou Arena for the first time since ever.  Of course, success spawns athletic directors’ phone calls.

Alabama basketball is without a coach and the rumors of its interest in Mike Anderson are running rampant.  Mr. SEC, whoever that is, writes:

The question, obviously, is whether or not Anderson would accept the Alabama job if offered. 

Alabama made it to the Elite Eight just three years ago and the program is far from rock-bottom, regardless of how they finish record-wise under Philip Pearson.

However, Alabama will always be a football school.  Anderson is currently coaching at a basketball school (regardless of the progress Gary Pinkel has made with Missouri football).

From a salary perspective, Missouri will probably have a hefty raise waiting on Anderson if his team continues on its current path. 

But Alabama is no slouch when it comes to paying coaches.  Remember, the first coach in Alabama history (football or basketball) to make more than a million dollars a year was Mark Gottfried.

With tradition and salaries probably being a push, would Anderson want to leave a basketball-first school to come back to his home state?’

Is Mizzou really a basketball school?  I would suggest not anymore, if it ever was.  Mizzou’s football was so bad for so long at just the time Norm Stewart whipped the basketball team into a nationally respected program, but football was lying in wait all the while to reclaim its title.   Though what I think, or any of us close to Mizzou sports think, is somewhat irrelevant.  The national perception is that Mizzou is a basketball school.  I guess. 

An Alabama paper writes:

For the second time in five days, Missouri coach Mike Anderson didn’t deny reports linking him to the open men’s basketball position at Alabama.

“Sometimes your name is going to be mentioned anywhere. That just tells you you’re doing a great job with your program,” Anderson said Monday. “I’m the head coach at Missouri. I’m excited about our program. This is year three, and a lot of things are taking place that I envisioned when I got here. So that’s my focus.”

There is preliminary interest from the Crimson Tide in Anderson, sources have told the Press-Register, and the Missouri coach could figure prominently in Alabama’s lengthy search to replace Mark Gottfried.

So, it’s out there.  A little different from the Pinkel to Washington rumors because a) Pinkel was already a legend at Mizzou and b) Pinkel was at a stage of his career that taking on a complete rebuilding job did not appear an attractive option.  Anderson is younger, was born in Birmingham, and has only put three years in at Mizzou.  I could see him deciding that Alabama was a better long term option and leaving us.

That said, I don’t think he’s going anywhere.  He has worked hard and put up with a tremendous amount of shit to get to this point.   Mizzou is capable of a passion for basketball that likely surpasses the Tide’s love for the game.  Mizzou, if it hasn’t already, will embrace Anderson as one of its own.  And he will get paid. 

I predict that after getting bounced from the Elite Eight by North Carolina, Mike Anderson will be greeted at Columbia Regional Airport with an extension and a raise.  Alabama will have to go elsewhere for its coach.

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10 Responses

  1. Gene Claude said:

    February 11th, 2009 at 12:31 pm

    It would certainly be an odd time to leave, but you can’t control when opportunity knocks, I guess. I could see it going either way. Would be an interesting coaching search for us. I bet Quin would come back!

  2. Professor Van Nostrand said:

    February 11th, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    I believe CMA (Boo term) will stay because (a) we’ll pay him and (b) he’s supposedly making big inroads with the STL high school coaches.

    I was not sold on CMA until after the Texas game. I believe that half of a college BB coach’s job is to get max effort. His team delivers effort and he’ll get good enough talent to be upper half of the Big 12. Considering the last 6 years, that’s good enough for now.

  3. Chet Gristler said:

    February 11th, 2009 at 11:40 pm

    We had a 1st round bye in the Big XII tourney in 98-99 (Norm’s last season). Finished 2nd in the regular season at 11-5. Dibi Ray and Albert White came out for the Friday 2nd round game with that weird checkerboard hair and we got beat by 10.

  4. Boo Radley said:

    February 12th, 2009 at 10:11 am

    Disregarding my personal opinion of CMA as a coach, which is getting better with every game we don’t go full court trap all the time, I would actually be surprised if he stayed. I say that because a lot of coaches seem to go back to “home” when given the opportunity. Plus Bama has a ton of money to throw at him.

    Also, while we have definitely made progress this year, the outlook is not as good for next year without Carroll and Lyons. Scoring the basketball may be a little more difficult. He might feel it is a good time to leave. JMO.

  5. Gene Claude said:

    February 12th, 2009 at 7:54 pm

    I’ve been disregarding your personal opinion for a long time….

    I don’t know that I’d be surprised if he stayed, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he left, if that makes sense.

    I have a feeling losing Lyons and Carroll won’t be as bad as we might think, it isn’t like either is an NBA talent. Same as losing Chase Danile may not be as crippling as we might have thought.

  6. Boo Radley said:

    February 13th, 2009 at 9:25 am

    That hurts

  7. Roberto Frankfurter said:

    February 14th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    I think this season for CMA (see Boo Radley) is a bigger breakthrough season than Pinkel in 2003. It is hard to believe, but I think the b-ball program was in worse shape when CMA took over three years ago than when Pinkel took over before the 2001 season.

    I didn’t look this up, but during the game today it was mentioned that CMA has the best men’s basketball coaching record in school history to start his career. Even at Missouri (and with the mostly cupcake non-con schedules), that’s damn impressive. Again, given the state of the program after the Quin debacle.

  8. Boo Radley said:

    February 15th, 2009 at 10:01 am

    I agree with Roberto on CMA. However, I am concerned that this year we have benefited from a down year in the Big 12. The tournament may show otherwise. Still, he deserves all the credit for taking advantage of it, and probably deserves an extension. However, the question will be can he bring in players to replace Carroll and Lyons to keep the program going in the right direction like Pinkel did bringing in Chase, Chase, and Maclin. Given the talent coming into the Big 12 next year, he will have to match that kind of recruiting in order to continue the success.

  9. Gene Claude said:

    February 15th, 2009 at 10:56 am

    I’ll submit that Lyons and Carroll are very likely worse than Ramsey and Bowers next year. Lyons and Carroll are not all that. Carroll’s leadership and energy will be missed, and Lyons has a great offensive game, but combined they have a 9″ vertical and have real trouble defensively.

    I do agree that the critical issue is recruiting. I think you can play any style in the world in basketball, and if you have talent, you are going to be a consistent top 20 team. That’s why I don’t buy into your theories about CMA and his ability to win in the Big 12. If he gets good players, he’ll win. If not, he won’t win.

    That said, the bar is pretty low in the Big 12. There are only 3 teams that consistently have NBA-quality layers: OU, KU and UT.

    The exciting part about this season, to me, is that this does not look like a one and done situation to me. I think you are not going to see a dropoff at all after this year, in fact, I think we look like a consistent top 20 team going forward.

    I think the bball program might have been in “worse” shape than the football one, but rebuilding a bball program is so much easier than football. Fewer players, fewer moving parts, etc. So, while I give CMA all sorts of credit, I don’t think it is in the same league as what Pinkel has done.

  10. Roberto Frankfurter said:

    February 26th, 2009 at 12:16 am

    I restate my position that CMA’s third year breakthrough is bigger than Pinkel. I don’t but GC’s point that it is easier in b-ball b/c it is easier for all teams. CMA has the Tigers ranked 8th in the country with a bullet and a legit shot to win the conference on March 1 going to Lawrence.

    Go Tigers!!!

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