Missouri AD Mack Rhoades' sudden need to hire a new football coach "makes for a fascinating and daunting crossroads" at the school, as its stature in the SEC is "based almost entirely on the rise and stability of football -- and hinging on its continued success," according to Vahe Gregorian of the K.C. STAR. Rhoades’ ability to "execute the elusive right hire at the right time" involves things that would be "complicated under any circumstances ... and all the more so given the current climate of racial unrest in Columbia" (K.C. STAR, 11/19). In St. Louis, Ben Frederickson writes the house that outgoing coach Gary Pinkel built "now rests on Rhoades' shoulders." Rhoades yesterday said of the school, "You can win here. Coach Pinkel proved that. ... I really believe you can win a national championship at the University of Missouri. And what head coach wouldn’t want to do that?" Rhoades joked that he "keeps his list of potential hires in the third drawer of his desk." He added, "I’m certainly partial to [Houston's] Tom Herman since I hired him at my previous institution. ... And [Memphis'] Justin Fuente is another terrific coach." Frederickson writes, "If you’re thinking, whoa, it’s weird to hear an athletic director talk about specific candidates during a search, you’re right." But Rhoades has a "refreshing way of getting to the point." Salary "will depend on the candidate, but he shrugged off the notion that it would be improper to pay the new hire more than" Pinkel’s $4M per year. Rhoades: "It’s market-driven, and if it’s the right guy, we’ll need to pay what we need to pay" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 11/19).
SEARCH SQUAD: Rhoades said, "I haven’t decided yet on a search firm. I’ve used them in the past, and I’ve also not used search firms. ... There’s probably some search firms at some other institutions that have had a head start and are using some particular firms. Right or wrong, I’m not sure I want to use a firm that’s already being used by another institution. If I use one, I want them 100-percent thinking about the University of Missouri" (COLUMBIA DAILY TRIBUNE, 11/19).
SEC SHOWDOWN? ESPN’s David Hale said of the attractiveness of the Missouri football head coaching job, “It’s going to be in the higher echelon because you’re talking about SEC, so there’s going to be revenue there, there’s going to be opportunity to play big games and I think, thanks to Gary Pinkel, they have shown Missouri is relevant in the SEC." Hale said compared to the opening at South Carolina, “I’d rather be at Missouri right now, because I don’t want to be at South Carolina competing against Dabo Swinney and Clemson, the way they’ve got things rolling right now, and I actually talked to Steve Spurrier a few weeks back and he said, ‘Look, there is a machine at Clemson right now on the recruiting trail that South Carolina needs to build up, and we don’t have that right now’” (“CFB Daily: The Experts,” ESPNU, 11/17).
