Who Replaces Missouri Tigers Assistant Tim Fuller?
By Ron Davis
The Missouri Tigers assistant coaching position is vacant as of Tuesday night when PowerMizzou.com reported that Tim Fuller would be leaving the staff. It had been speculated for sometime that he and Mizzou would part ways, and head coach Kim Anderson has a big decision to make for his second year.
Does he look for someone who can recruit or someone with head coaching experience?
Here are a couple potential candidates that Anderson might consider reaching out to:
1) Rick Ray– Ray was recently fired as Mississippi State’s head coach after his third year on the job. He compiled a 37-60 record and coming off a 13-19 season. He’s been around Division One basketball for a while now with stops at Indiana State, Northern Illinois, Purdue and Clemson.
Mar 11, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Rick Ray during the first half in the SEC Conference Tournament against the Auburn Tigers at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
2) Michael Porter- Porter is currently an assistant on the Mizzou women’s team. The obvious reason for hiring Porter is becuase of his son, Michael Jr., who’s a sophomore at Tolton Catholic High School locally in Columbia. Porter Jr. is a consensus top-five player in the class in 2017. Porter Sr. has been on Robin Pingeton’s staff for three years and that is his only collegiate experience in his career.
3) Kim English- This is an outside-the-box hire but could make sense. English currently plays basketball professionally in Venezuela, but he is a former Missouri Tiger after wrapping his career up in 2012. He was apart of the 30-win regular season team, and won 107 games in his career.
Ray satisfies the experience criteria, as he’s been on the bench for seven NCAA Tournament teams. One could also say he fits the recruiting need as well, as ESPN.com has four 4-star recruits in Mississippi St.’s 2015 recruiting class.
Mar 31, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Detroit Pistons shooting guard Kim English (24) shoots over Chicago Bulls shooting guard Daequan Cook (14) during the first half at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
The question would be: does Ray need this job as much as Missouri needs him? My guess would be probably not. Ray’s teams in Starkville were not good by any means, but as experienced as he is, he likely could attract interest from mid-major level schools as a head coach.
Porter helped coach the best Mizzou women’s team since 2006 by winning 19 games and advancing to the quarterfinals of the WNIT. Hiring him would be a clear indicator that Anderson is pulling out all the stops for his son, Michael Jr.
The problem is, Michael Jr. wouldn’t set foot on campus until 2017, and given Anderson’s first year going 9-23, can he afford worrying about 2017? Porter obviously had a hand in bringing his daughters Bri and Cierra on the team, and he may very well do the same with Michael. If he is to be brought on the staff as a recruiter, he’ll need to be able to do it outside of Columbia too.
English would be the least likely choice of all three. For one, is he ready to give up his playing career at age 26? Doubtful. Also, he has never been a coach, and has never recruited. He currently doesn’t satisfy any of the criteria of coaching experience or recruiting.
So why should Anderson consider English? I’ve stated that he won 107 games in his career here, so he knows what goes into a successful team. He was a leader on those teams and acted like a coach on the floor. Plus at 26, he may relate to the players a lot easier than soon-to-be-60 year old Kim Anderson.
My guess is that Rick Ray should be Anderson’s top choice. Anderson has come from a Division Two school, and the other two assistants are a one-year removed from a D-2 assistant (Brad Loos) and one-year removed from a high school coach (Rob Fulford).
That’s just two combined seasons from a 9-23 year. Anderson was an assistant at Missouri and Baylor, but his last year in D-1 before last year was 1999. Ray brings that experience that Anderson desperately needs to keep his job beyond the 2015-2016 season and develop the core of young players Missouri has.