Two semifinal slots down (okay, one and a half), two to go in the Mizzou 25 Coaches Edition, the tournament to determine who was the best, most likable, most influential Mizzou coach in the last 25 years! The Kreklows and Dr. McGuire are only separated by 4 votes, so I'll keep the poll going until there's separation of 5 or more. Click here for the bracket.
A decade ago, Smith took over a moribund wrestling program and set out to build a national power, slowly but surely. He has succeeded, producing 8 All-Americans, coaching Mizzou 25 Champion Ben Askren to two national titles, and, in 2007, leading Mizzou to a #1 national ranking. In training methods and results, Mizzou Wrestling has fulfilled Brian Smith's vow of becoming a powerhouse.
An all-conference player at Mizzou, McArtor took over for legendary John "Hi" Simmons and won 732 games and two Big 8 titles in 21 seasons. He took Mizzou to 6 NCAA tourneys (it was harder to qualify back then) and also served as Associate A.D. during the search for Joe Ca$tiglione’s replacement in 1998. Beyond that, he was the Chairman of the NCAA Baseball Committee in the late-'80s, a period of strong growth for sport.
Good things happen when you go 11-0. Aaron Crow has been named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy (baseball's Heisman) and Roger Clemens Award (baseball's Davey O'Brien Award...soon to renamed).
Crow hopes move to 12-0 in what should be a gorgeous night at Simmons Field tonight. Mutigers has a preview of this weekend's regular season finale against #4 Nebraska.
You know how the Cowboys got an insane number of all-pros even though they didn't actually win the NFC or the Super Bowl? Well, guess that makes Mizzou the Dallas Cowboys of softball's Midwest Region. Five Tigers were named to the All-Midwest Region team, as opposed to only two Texas A&M players (despite the fact that ATM lapped Mizzou in the standings this year). Strange deal, but congrats to first-teamers OF Rhea Taylor, 1B Amanda Renth, 2B Andee Allen, and second-team pitchers Stacy Delaney and Jen Bruck. Hope they can take home a win tonight in Iowa City. The Missourian and Post-Dispatch preview the regional, while the Trib takes a look at the makeup of the Mizzou squad.
Like they have all season, when the Tigers (44-15) face Iowa (40-18) tomorrow night in Iowa City in NCAA regional play, four to five true freshmen will populate Earleywine’s lineup card, giving the coach another self-inflicted lesson on patience while simultaneously seeking a championship.
"It has been a really interesting challenge to get four or five freshmen to play top-25 softball right away," said Earleywine, whose team is the No. 2 seed at this weekend’s double-elimination regional.
...
[I]t’s the freshman core that makes Missouri unique. Led by Big 12 freshman of the year and All-America candidate Rhea Taylor, the team’s dynamic leadoff hitter and center fielder, MU’s freshmen have accounted for 39 percent of the team’s at-bats, collected 38 percent of its hits, scored 37 percent of its runs and gobbled up 31 percent of its total bases.
Taylor, the Big 12 leader in batting average, hits, runs and stolen bases, made her impact last fall after first arriving on campus.
"Rhea has been by far and away the one that’s been able to do it, and I think the lesson the others can learn from that is she was just an absolute sponge and trusted us from the beginning," Earleywine said. "I think sometimes freshmen come in with a hesitancy. ‘Hey, I was all-state in high school. You talking to me?’
" ‘Yeah, I am talking to you. Everyone on this team was all-state.’ So, those who listen and try to make the adjustments in the fall will have a better chance in the spring."
Finally, we end with some football recruiting blurbs. Pennsylvania WR Jaleel Clark really likes the Tigers and will be making a visit to Como over the summer, while Hazelwood East lineman Darris Ford has some new video up.
It's on to the Quarterfinals in the Mizzou 25 Coaches Edition, the tournament to determine who was the best, most likable, most influential Mizzou coach in the last 25 years! We rounded through an upset-free first round, and we'll hopefully see a little more competition in the second. Click here for the bracket.
5/14: 1 Norm Stewart vs 8 Joann Rutherford 5/15: 4 The Kreklows vs 5 Rick McGuire
5/16: 3 Brian Smith vs 6 Gene McArtor
5/17: 2 Gary Pinkel vs 7 Tim Jamieson
Five Best Athletes:
Christian Cantwell
Derrick Peterson
Natasha Kaiser-Brown
Ashley Wysong
Russ Bell
In 8 seasons since moving across town from Columbia College to Mizzou, the Kreklows have gone 169-77, qualifying for NCAA Tournament appearances every season. They inherited a program that had won 64 matches in 7 seasons and won 70 in their first three years. They have built volleyball into one of Mizzou's most popular sports, hosting regionals in 2004 and 2005 and drawing loud, exciteable crowds throughout their tenure. Their Elite Eight run in 2005 was, to say the least, a lot of fun.
Dr. McGuire is one of the most respected names in track & field, both in the classroom (he’s a faculty member in the MU College of Education and has headed the sports psychology program for US Track & Field for 25 years) and on the track, where he’s coached 119 All-Americans and twice been named Conference Coach of the Year. He has coached some of Mizzou's most accomplished athletes in any sport. He is an institution.
Mutigers.com has a nice preview of the weekend's Big 12 Championships in Boulder (throwing records will fall!) and Mizzou's chances of making some noise. I did enjoy this passage...those mutigers folks sure do enjoy writing these previews...
It’s again Missouri versus Kansas, U.S. versus Russia in the men’s hammer throw. During the indoor season, it was Mizzou’s Chris Rohr going toe-to-toe with KU’s Egor Agafonov in the weight throw. The duo then entered the Big 12 meet at 1-2 in the nation, but Agafonov prevailed to win his third-straight title in the event.
Now, the story is nearly the same for the hammer, but now its school-record holder Jason Morris, along with Rohr, chasing the Jayhawk. Agafonov leads the Big 12 and is third in the NCAA with his season’s best of 226-2 (68.94m) achieved in defeating Morris at the Drake Relays. Morris is sixth in the country, second in the conference with his school-record effort of 224-5 (68.41m), which was also accomplished at the Drake Relays. Rohr is also in the hunt with a season best of 216-5 (65.98m) which is third in the Big 12 and 13th nationally. Englin and Tyler Dailey sit 4-6 in the conference rundown.
The men’s hammer has been the Tigers’ bread-and-butter in the past conference meets, producing 22 points in 2006 as Morris placed second as part of a Mizzou 2-3-4-6 finish.
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Good news, Tiger fans! According to PowerMizzou's Offensive Hot Board, Mizzou's in line to give away somewhere around 46 scholarships in the 2009 recruiting class! According to this list, Mizzou's got a 35% or better chance of landing 18 other offensive players beyond its current commits. And yes, I realize math wasn't the point of this exercise.
And while the math on these may be kinda silly, it does give me another excuse to raid YouTube for some clips.
Here's Sioux City RB Brandon Wegher (4 stars, Tiger Hot Board odds: 40%). Dude looks like he plays for Army in those jerseys.
And here's Miami WR Rodney Smith (4 stars, Tiger Hot Board odds: 35%).
In other PM recruiting news, Mizzou has made the Final 3 for QB Jacob Karam as expected. From here on out, we are competing with Arizona and Houston for his services, and you'd figure from a 'current national stature' perspective, our chances are pretty decent.
Also from PM is the latest Spring Football review, this one on Iowa State. Again, thank goodness for Rivals.com at this point...without them, there would be no links posts.
Finally, back to my favorite three-times-a-year sport...it appears that the horse racing world is basically conceding the Preakness to Big Brown...only one other Kentucky Derby horse is running this weekend (Gayego, who finished 17th), and Big Brown is currently standing at 1-2 odds, which means you'd have to bet a CRAPLOAD of money on him to actually win anything. In all, though, one just hopes that the rest of the Triple Crown (sorry, the VISA Triple Crown) goes off injury-free. I'm not sure the sport could handle another incident like Eight Belles'.
UPDATE: We've got our first shutout. After 64 votes, Norm wins it...64-0.
It's on to the Quarterfinals in the Mizzou 25 Coaches Edition, the tournament to determine who was the best, most likable, most influential Mizzou coach in the last 25 years! We rounded through an upset-free first round, and we'll hopefully see a little more competition in the second. Click here for the bracket.
5/14: 1 Norm Stewart vs 8 Joann Rutherford
5/15: 4 The Kreklows vs 5 Rick McGuire
5/16: 3 Brian Smith vs 6 Gene McArtor
5/17: 2 Gary Pinkel vs 7 Tim Jamieson
The face of Mizzou Athletics for three decades, Stewart was first an all-time great Mizzou athlete, getting his number retired at Mizzou for his basketball exploits and playing on Mizzou's 1954 National Championship Baseball team. Oh yeah, and he won 634 games in 32 seasons as Tiger head coach, leading Mizzou to two Elite Eights and coaching 8 All-Americans and 29 NBA draftees along the way. He's also the most quotable Missouri Tiger ever, spitting out Normisms faster than you can write them down.
The female Norm Stewart and the Mother of Mizzou Basketball (she took over during the Mizzou women's second season in existence), Rutherford prowled the sidelines for 23 seasons at Mizzou, winning 422 games and amassing a .618 win percentage. She won 20+ games for 8 straight seasons in the 1980s, coached the two greatest Tiger ladies of all-time (Renee Kelly and Joni Davis), and reached the NCAA Tournament six times.
Hooray...Mizzou's back on ESPN.com's college football front page! There are two Big 12-related stories: a Big 12 spring "questions & answers" wrap-up and a "Can't wait to see these things" piece. From the latter:
Kansas and Missouri came out of nowhere to contend for the Big 12 title last season. Will both teams be able to keep pace without several of their star players? The Jayhawks lost tailback Brandon McAnderson, All-America cornerback Aqib Talib and tackle Anthony Collins. The Tigers lost RB Tony Temple, center Adam Spieker and tight end Martin Rucker. Which team will adjust faster?
Just to pick a quick nit, we were kinda sorta the Big 12 North favorites last year. That's not exactly coming out of nowhere. But hey, the attention's great.
Thank goodness for PowerMizzou, as without them, I'd already be more-or-less out of links for the day. First up from PM is a Nebraska spring wrap-up.
Lorenzo Williams: Williams came to Missouri as a three-star linebacker. He left as one of the Big 12's best defensive tackles. What Williams gave Missouri on the field was impressive. What he did off of it may have been better. Of all the leaders, Zo might have been the best. He was the heart and soul of a defense that went from largely questioned to one of the league's best by season's end. No player put more emotion into his five years at Missouri.
Adjusted ranking: 4 stars
Also from PM...everybody's favorite fun, pointless exercise, the Tiger Ten!
Finally...simply because a) I need to fill some more space, b) I mentioned Nebraska football above, and c) it's time to drum up some energy for this weekend's MU-NU baseball series, I bring you...YouTube!
UPDATE: Called after 87 votes. Pinkel takes it, 94%-5%. The second round is set.
Today we round out Round One in the Mizzou 25 Coaches Edition, the tournament to determine who was the best, most likable, most influential Mizzou coach in the last 25 years! Competitors were seeded by more normal methods this time (as opposed to the chronological seeding of the Players Edition), and over the next week and a half, we'll be plowing through the first round matchups.
Gary Pinkel has survived all the peaks and valleys a coach can see and has come out the better for it. After three seasons of steady progress, the bottom fell out for Mizzou in 2004, and a 5-6 season left Pinkel's tenure on the rocks. Since then, Mizzou has gone from 7 to 8 to 12 wins, earning its first #1 ranking in 47 years late in 2007. Mizzou will start the 2008 season in the Top 10, and Pinkel's slow-but-steady grind toward success has won over Mizzou fans, to say the least.
As embattled a coaching figure as there has ever been in Columbia, Snyder took the Tigers to four straight NCAA tournaments in the early ‘00s, winning five tourney games in the process and making an invigorating run to the Elite Eight in 2002. He raised the profile of the program, albeit for both good reasons and bad. Ultimately, his failure to recruit an impact point guard was (among other things) his downfall, though his accomplishments should still be acknowledged.
What happens when you get a save and a complete game victory in the same series? If you're Kyle Gibson, you win Big 12 Pitcher of the Week.
New Baseball America rankings are out, and Mizzou has maintained its #15 spot for, I believe, three straight weeks now. Weekend opponent Nebraska is #5 after taking 2 of 3 from now-#9 Texas A&M. They're within 1.5 games of ATM in the Big 12 standings, so you know they'll be swinging hard and aiming for the sweep this weekend. Oklahoma State holds steady at #10, meaning the Big 12, ACC, and Pac 10 have 10 of the top 15 teams.
PowerMizzou resumes its post-spring looks at upcoming Mizzou opponents by taking on Baylor.
What marks progress for this team? Are they at the point yet where they are a legitimate threat in the Big 12 and what has to happen for this to be a successful season?
JH: I've told people all spring I don't know how many games this team will win, but they will be interesting to watch. Is that what I would consider progress? No. This team has to be a legitimate threat in the Big 12 and by that I mean someone teams don't just think they can roll over without much thought. Guy Morriss was able to get Baylor close but in 2007 there was a backslide, and 2008 Coach Briles seems to be looking for more from this team.
Eight Big 12 players made the 88-man Bronco Nagurski Trophy Watch List, including William Moore and Sean Weatherspoon...and Mizzou-killer Auston English.
"[The Iowa City Regional is] a deep regional but one that’s not really top heavy," Earleywine said. "I think it’s winnable if we play well. ... It’s a little bit of a daunting task knowing there’s no gimme wins in this regional, but it’s fun to finally play some teams you haven’t seen all year. It’s refreshing."
Finally, I guess I should link to this SMQ Georgia write-up, as they represent, uhh, some of our stiffer competition in the, ahem, national title race (it still doesn't feel right saying stuff like that).
Not going to be much to muse about, as most sports are just about done these days, and those that are not are headed very quickly in that direction. Remember to keep voting for the Mizzou 25 Coach, should be an interesting battle as we get into the next round later in the week. Anyway, let's get to it.
Baseball: Winning 3 of 4 for the week, including 2 of 3 on the road against a pretty scrappy kU team is still what I would call a solid week for Mizzou. Not great, not what they were doing back in March, but better than what they were doing a couple of weeks ago. The week started with a tight 5-4 win over Creighton at home in come from behind and then walk-off fashion. A rain out against SMS the next day took another game from the schedule, and had Mizzou head west for 3 more against kU.
Aaron Crow is 11-0. No real matter how he got there, but he is there. 11-0...just insane really and quite the achievement.
Saturday's rain (and seriously...everyone KNEW there was no chance for getting that game in at 6pm, why not move it to 1pm?) left Mizzou with a twin-bill on Sunday. Rick Zagone battled, but was not terribly effective in later innings. Almost like a mediocre slugfest (think Gatti/Ward), the teams kept slugging at each other, with both landing offense and then getting hit back without defense. In the end, kU landed the last shot against a Scooter Hicks in his 3rd inning of work and got the walk-off win. All the better, a strong return for Mizzou with a couple of dingers and a solid outing by Gibson to win in run-rule style.
UPDATE: 54 votes are in, and Jamieson wins comfortably, 85%-14%.
We're rounding the homestretch of Round One in the Mizzou 25 Coaches Edition, the tournament to determine who was the best, most likable, most influential Mizzou coach in the last 25 years! Competitors were seeded by more normal methods this time (as opposed to the chronological seeding of the Players Edition), and over the next week and a half, we'll be plowing through the first round matchups.
Three second round bids remain! Click here for the bracket.
Five Best Seasons:
1980 - 3rd in Big 8, 3rd in NCAA Regionals
1981 - NCAA Central Region Champs
1982 - 2nd in Big 8, 4th in NCAA Regionals
1984 - 3rd in Big 8, 3rd in NCAA Regionals
1992 - Big 8 Champs
Like Gary Pinkel, Tim Jamieson struggled a few years into his coaching tenure before righting the ship in a major way. Just looking at his career record (441-308-2 heading into 2008) doesn't cut it. Under Jamieson, Mizzou averaged a 36-21 record between 1996-99 before struggling at the turn of the decade. However, they've averaged 38 wins a season since 2003 and found themselves ranked #2 in the country a few weeks into the 2008 season.
Known as the father of Mizzou gymnastics, Jacobson started the program from scratch in 1979 and led the Tigers to 229 regular season wins and 13 NCAA appearances. He was twice named Conference Coach of the Year and led Mizzou to an NCAA Central Regional title in 1981 and a Big 8 Title in 1992. He's also the father of the Cat Classic, and by the time he retired in 1999, Gymnastics was the third-highest grossing athletic program at Mizzou.
So, despite an early exit in the Big 12 Tournament this weekend (they lost to 6-seed Tech in the quarterfinals), Mizzou Softball drew a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament. The bad news is, they'll play 3-seed Iowa Friday night...in the Iowa City Regional. How a 3-seed gets a regional, I'm not totally sure. Every sport's tourney rules are different, I guess. The Missourian has more. And here's the NCAA bracket in pdf form.
So the Trib sent Dave Matter down to Oklahoma City for the Big 12 Softball tournament, and while he certainly didn't have much to cover there, he did get to watch what happens in OKC when a QB transfers from OU.
The big news here in OKC is third-string quarterback Keith Nichol’s decision to transfer from Oklahoma. Nichol, a former four-star recruit from Michigan, enrolled at OU in January of ’07 to get a jumpstart on the quarterback competition but couldn’t beat out Sam Bradford and was looking at three years of playing behind last year’s Freshman All-American.
...
The more interesting part of the story I found was a list of Sooner quarterback transfers during the Bob Stoops era. Nichol is the sixth. That might seem like an alarming number, but I can’t imagine Stoops lost any sleep over losing another QB. He’ll put out another top-10 team this fall and continue to recruit top players at the position. (OU signed anothe four-star QB back in February, New Mexic's Landry Jones.)
Losing top-shelf quarterbacks is the price you pay for recruiting at the level Oklahoma does, especially at the delicate quarterback position. When a young QB like Bradford emerges as a franchise player, other young passers see the writing on the wall and are forced into making decisions. These scenarios play out at top programs, and if Missouri expects to sustain the success of its current run, it could easily happen in Columbia one day, too.
The Tigers have a blue-chip quarterback coming to Columbia this summer (Blaine Gabbert), another one committed for 2009 (Blaine Dalton) and continue to recruit other players at the position, including Friendswood, Texas, QB Jacob Karam, with the understanding that one could emerge as the next franchise QB while the others sit and watch with the rest of us. As fun as 2008 should be to watch, the QB evolution thereafter could be fascinating.
So one more former Tiger is getting a shot at the pros--Adam Crossett signed a free agent deal with the Colts. You have to figure he won't have a chance at the kicking or punting roles (Adam Vinatieri and Hunter Smith are, shall we say, pretty solid in the first-string roles), but I don't believe either is remarkable in the kickoffs department, so Crossett may have a shot there (not that he was amazing at that himself).
Something else good from the weekend: Kyle Gibson and Aaron Senne got an invite to try out for the USA national team. They both responded to the news with good weekends in Lawrence...Gibson shut KU down in the series finale, while Senne hit two HRs on Sunday.
PowerMizzou caught up with Texas long-jump champion (and future Mizzou TE) Michael Egnew and got some good quotes from both him and his high school coach...former Tiger point guard Dibi Ray. Small world.
Finally, this skit had no business being funny, but the males in the SNL cast made it funny, so...power to them for that.
UPDATE: I believe it's safe to call this one. After 44 votes, Smith wins it, 97%-2%.
We continue with Round One of the Mizzou 25 Coaches Edition! It's time to determine who was the best, most likable, most influential Mizzou coach in the last 25 years! Competitors were seeded by more normal methods this time (as opposed to the chronological seeding of the Players Edition), and over the next week and a half, we'll be plowing through the first round matchups.
Three second round bids remain! Click here for the bracket.
Five Best Athletes:
Ben Askren
Matt Pell
Tyron Woodley
Tyler McCormick
Scott Barker
Five Best Athletes:
Amanda Bales
Valerie Lauver
Tim Ross
Matt Noonan
Ann Marie Brooks
A decade ago, Smith took over a moribund wrestling program and set out to build a national power, slowly but surely. He has succeeded, producing 8 All-Americans, coaching Mizzou 25 Champion Ben Askren to two national titles, and, in 2007, leading Mizzou to a #1 national ranking. In training methods and results, Mizzou Wrestling has fulfilled Brian Smith's vow of becoming a powerhouse.
In eight seasons at the helm of the Mizzou X-Country program, Jared and Rebecca Wilmes have created one of the most successful collections of student-athletes anywhere in the country. While seeing steady success in bringing numerous teams to Regional titles and NCAA Championships, the Wilmes' teams have thrived even more in the classroom, earning more Academic All-Conference and All-American awards than any other Mizzou program.
Good things happen when you go 11-0. Aaron Crow has been named a 
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