Director of Athletics Mike Alden's Comments
11/19/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 19, 2000
"I'm going to give you four specific reasons, somewhat specific reasons, of why we at the University of Missouri would need to make a change. Before I do that, I would be remiss if I did not tell how difficult of decision this was. Larry Smith is as fine of a professional, football coach and an individual as I've ever been around. Quite frankly, if I may expound just a minute that, I've around some really good ones, I mean really good ones. For me to have the opportunity to work with a guy with the integrity, the professionalism, work ethic and the football knowledge of a person like Larry Smith has been an unbelievable opportunity for me and that made this decision that much more difficult. In addition, Larry, his wife, Cheryl, and what they've done together for this community, for Columbia and the state of Missouri, their efforts on behalf of R.A.I.N. and the Central Missouri Food Bank and all of the great things they've done in this community go way beyond the call of duty for anybody that is involved in any football program at any institution in this country. They gave of themselves, of their time and all of their efforts not only to improve the football program at Missouri but also to improve the quality of life here in Columbia and throughout the state of Missouri. Beyond that, that staff has done a remarkable job.
"So, any of this was not out of a lack of effort, a lack of interest, a lack of focus or a lack of ability, it wasn't that.
"The four primary reasons that we utilized in evaluating the program initially would directly relate to the won/loss record, particularly over the course of the last two years. The won/loss record over the course the last couple of years has been difficult and we understand the need to be able to have healthy student-athletes, we understand that, but we also understand the nature of the sport of football and how difficult it is to be able to harness healthy kids throughout an entire season. We understand that.
"In addition to the won/loss record, when we talk about that, it would be important also to take a look at the competitiveness of how we performed in each and every one of our contests, not necessarily the Kansas State game, but every game across the span. All of have us heard me talk about this. We've always said that it is very important to give your kids an opportunity, on a regular basis, to be competitive and give them an opportunity win when they reach the fourth quarter or the second half in an athletic event, whatever that sport might be, on a regular basis. You may not win them all, OK, but the fact of the matter is, on a regular basis, whether you're playing Kansas or you're playing Kansas State, that on a regular basis, that you're competitive. That would be a second area we perhaps might have dipped a little bit, particularly the last couple of years.
"The third area that was something fairly critically important to us had to do with what we term, player development. Player development centers not only on the development of the student-athlete relative to their abilities athletically, to be able to develop them player-wise to be perhaps perform at the next level,i.e. the NFL or whatever that may be, but also from a player development standpoint to continue to focus on strong interpersonal relationships with our kids to develop them , to continue to develop them, as quality individuals, which in fact, we have done a pretty good job there, but I think there were some areas there that we were lacking on, and discussed a little bit , particularly with our assistant coaching staff this morning.
"The final point I think was a focus of mine, and this is perhaps my opinion only, so take it for what it's worth, but I think that from a recruiting standpoint, that we have not done as good a job as we should have been doing, particularly in the last two years coming off of two bowl wins, from a recruiting aspect and in particular in the state of Missouri. Our focus has to got to be to lock down the state of Missouri, relative to the top scholars and the top scholar-athletes. I've said that since I've got here. I don't necessarily think that we've done as good a job from a recruiting aspect internally as we've needed to do in the state of Missouri. We have great high school coaches in this state, we have great scholars and great scholar-athletes and our focus needs to be on them continually having Missouri and Mizzou football at the top of their lists of schools they might want to go to. Outside of the state of Missouri, our recruiting efforts were good but I think we need to continue to do even a better job, relative to whether that's the Florida connection that we've continued to develop and harness, whether that has to do with the Texas connection or whether that has to do with some other areas outside of the state of Missouri.
"What is the program looking to accomplish when you do something like this? I think we've been very steadfast in our opinion and our position on this. We believe that the University of Missouri Athletics Program, with football being one of those parts of the program, that should be and can be consistently one of the top three or four programs in this conference without question...without question. We think that the facilities that have been laid and the foundation that has been laid on top of those facilities here at Missouri, the solid success, particularly the success over the past four or five years if you think about going 5-6 and then a bowl season, and then a bowl season, and then of course we dipped to 4-7 and 3-8. I still think over the course of the last five years there has been an unbelievably solid foundation laid for us to be able to achieve those kind of goals and be able to be place in the top three or four in this conference on a regular basis. That's what we are looking to try to do. We are also looking, quite frankly, from a recruiting basis and a relationship basis to be able to lock down the borders and control the borders of Missouri. Now, for an athletic director to come up here and talk to about that, might seem a little odd, and while I'm not necessarily the person out there making those recruiting calls, I will tell you that that's the expectation though, as the administrator of this department, our expectation is to make sure we do everything we can to be able to establish those relationships in recruiting and to be able to continue to foster those relationships around the state of Missouri. I think, in addition to that, we are looking to boost our attendance. Folks, let me tell you, the fans in the state of Missouri are unbelievably positive, I've never seen anything like it. I've been a lot places and I have a lot of friends around this country in college football and to see almost 50,000, although I saw somewhere that `boy they didn't reach 50,000 for the K-State game' and it's true it was 36 degrees outside and it was cold and windy and we were 3-7, but none the less, we had 49, 227 out there of Missouri faithful to be able to see the Missouri Tigers and to know that we average 55,000 people per game this year, is a testament to the job that Larry Smith has done here at Missouri, that our football program has done here at Missouri, but the true passion that the people have for the Missouri Tigers. And the expectations are that they just want us to be competitive and to give them a great product out there when they come to see us and they'll keep showing up. But our expectations are that we make sure that we get not only 55,000, but we get to point where we get 65,000 a game and to do that, of course, you have to be successful on the field as well."
"What is Missouri looking for in a head football coach? I want to tell you the qualities of people that we'll be looking for out there in the country involved in football, and particular the head football coach here at the University of Missouri. The number one ingredient that we'll be looking for is a person who has an ability, and a very strong ability, to establish relationships with the student-athletes at the University of Missouri. And I'm not just talking about the relationship of telling you where to go and what to run and how to catch a ball, I'm talking about having a relationship where the individual is able to grow as an individual and a young man, about no only what's going on on the field, but in the classroom and in the community and in his personal life, and to be able to establish those kinds of relationships."
"The second thing that we are looking for is now an area of player development beyond that. We want a head coach and a staff he surrounds himself with, that is going to focus on the player development aspect of saying when we bring a student athlete to the University of Missouri and they have these abilities, we want to be able to foster those abilities not only as a great player at Mizzou, but perhaps to be able to foster and grow those abilities to be an NFL Player. I think that it is important to recognize that those players and student athletes want to have that opportunity and that most student athletes that come out of high school dreams of being that person that plays in the NFL, and we to have that kind of player development that can help kids that way."
"The third commitment we will be looking for from an individual, of course, is their commitment to academics. We have said this many times that our graduation rate at the University of Missouri is superior, and our student athletes have done an outstanding job in the classroom and we will not sacrifice that for anything. And so whoever the person is that is going to come in here has got to have that commitment to academics." "The fourth has to do with having certain recruiting strengths. What I mean by recruiting strengths is someone who is a "recruiting machine." I mean the people who understand what it takes to get down and get it done and work it hard and build those relationships from a recruiting aspect so we can get more and more student athletes interested in Missouri that want to come and play for the Tigers." "The next point, and there are only three more, is that we are looking for someone who is unbelievably organized and has a sense of discipline and that understands that structure is incredibly important in what goes on in this program. If there was ever anyone that I ever worked around that was organized and had an unbelievable sense of discipline, it was a guy named Larry Smith. Any of you that have been around Larry Smith know that. You wanna talk about a guy that's organized, and disciplined with his kids, and making sure that he has structure in his program, and we hope that we can come close to finding someone who has those qualities that Coach Smith has."
"The next is something that can't be defined at all and it has to do with something called a passion for this program. I think that there are certain folks around this program, and I hope that I would be one of those in particular, that whether you can define it or can't define it, that expresses a passion for what you do and a passion for your program and a belief in what's happening. This person is going to have to exemplify that through his actions, through the way that he deals with his student athletes, through his dealings out in the public, and his dealing with alums and individuals and of course with our faculty on this campus."
"And finally, you want to find someone who is a proven winner. And that not just a proven winner on the scoreboard, that's a proven winner in all of these areas we have talked about." So those are the criteria...quite, quite general. I think that if you look at the qualities that we are looking at, I think that coach Larry Smith and many of that staff that we have here right now exemplify many of those qualities. It isn't unlike many of the things we have talked about. It isn't unlike many of the things that have helped build where we are today, it just happens to be something we are going to stick out there in front that you all and many other people are going to be even more so aware of the type of qualities we are going to continue to search for in a football coach here at the University of Missouri."
