Truman's Tales
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Kim Anderson Must ‘Stay The Course’ As Missouri Tigers Bottom Out

By Derek Franks

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12 straight losses.

Empty gold seats.

Last place.

Bottom dwellers.

It’s a tough spot to be in for Missouri Tigers basketball and their first year head coach Kim Anderson. One might find it difficult to wish the situation on their worst enemy. And it’s going to get worse before it gets better. That’s the rotten truth.

Feb 4, 2015; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Missouri Tigers coach Kim Anderson reacts to a call from the sidelines during the second half against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Coleman Coliseum. The Crimson Tide won 62-49. Mandatory Credit: Kelly Lambert-USA TODAY Sports

But what is it they say? The night is darkest just before the dawn? If you’re going through hell, keep on going?

All of the above are applicable here. Mizzou could use inspiration from every perseverance idiom in the book right now.

For the head coach, Anderson, no one could have seen his debut season going this poorly, even those who swore by their name that the Tigers would finish last in the SEC this year. It was, in fact, a very real possibility.

The team is agonizingly young and inexperienced, undersized and lost amongst the big boys of the league. Offensive struggles were an obvious side effect from having these qualities in a college basketball team. But when you can’t crack the top 300 in the country, that’s unworldly bad. It doesn’t help that they are coached by a defensive mind– a much needed attribute after the Frank Haith debacle. But today, the team cannot score. That’s the new reality.

To be honest, collectively the talent just isn’t there. Sure, there are some guys that can play. There’s no doubt. But when you put it all together, Mizzou just isn’t a good basketball team. And for Kim Anderson, that sucks.

He’s had to be at the helm for what is historically one of the worst seasons that the Missouri Tigers basketball program has ever produced. Many have already sounded the bell on his tenure in Columbia. And the evidence is mounting to support that theory, regardless of the miniscule likelihood that it will be acted upon in the near future.

But let’s be fair. There is perhaps no one in the world that could have inherited this fiasco and turned it into any thing but what it is. Coach K would struggle with this bunch. And that’s not hyperbole. So, we can’t logically recommend that Mizzou fans and the athletic department alike start jumping ship on this regime already. What is required here is patience.

Missouri Tigers
Missouri Tigers /

Missouri Tigers

In a recent interview provided by the Kansas City Star, Mizzou athletic director Mike Alden did all but praise Kim Anderson given the circumstances. For Alden, it’s about staying the course during this difficult time.

“We knew that throughout the first year, couple of years, there would be growing pains that went along with the shift in coaches, and Kim implementing his system, his philosophy and what he’s trying to do,” Alden said. “Our encouragement to Kim and others has been you’ve just got to stay the course,” Alden said. “Keep doing the things you’re doing. We’ve seen this play out in a number of areas.”

Alden touched upon the many programs that Mizzou has watched grow from a hapless bottom feeder to contender- baseball, softball, wrestling, etc. And it was a solid point, even if it was not anything that many Mizzou fans want to hear. For some, they’d rather hear more transparency and criticism, even when they know that the A.D. would probably never go to that level.

Some also want to read criticism in this article. They want to see the program blasted for choosing such an inexperienced coach to lead such an inexperienced bunch of players. They want the controversy that surrounded his hire to continue because, well, it’s right there front of you proving them right. For those selected few (or many, who knows?), there is no convincing them that this ship will ever right its sails. It was doomed from the start, and it’s already a lost cause.

But it’s not. It’s just not. Has it been a terrible year for Missouri Tigers basketball? Sure. Is it difficult to watch? You bet. Is Kim Anderson the answer to the national championship void in Missouri? We can’t know right now. But does he deserve to be dismissed as someone that can’t fix this thing? Surely not.

Right now, the best thing for Anderson to do is exactly what Alden suggested. Stay the course. Lean on your principles and philosophy. Preach the things that won you two national championships in Division II. Go out there and recruit the next class of Mizzou Made. And put your best foot forward. These things take time. And right now, time is- as it should be- on Kim Anderson’s side.

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