Jim Sterk had this to say after firing Barry Odom

Mizzou Tigers athletic director Jim Sterk repeated himself a few times during Saturday’s press conference.

The Missouri Tigers fired football coach Barry Odom a day after the team’s final game of the 2019 season. Athletic director Jim Sterk addressed the media shortly after the firing, and repeated what he said in his press release Saturday.

Firing Odom had a lot to do with the loss of the energy after the anticipation for the 2019 season. He said just as much when he met with members of the media.

"“We lost a great deal of energy over the last half of the season, which caused great concern as we looked to the future,” Sterk said. “Mizzou is a great place. It’s an outstanding job. We have the necessary resources for this program to be successful at the highest level.”"

After the renovations and the hype surrounding this year’s team, Odom was supposed to have an SEC East contender on the field this season, and that did not happen. Odom got the Tigers in the Associated Press Top 25, but the team stumbled down the stretch with five-straight losses. The Tigers spent $100 million for the south end zone facility, and this was the first season the team played in the renovated stadium.

Sterk’s comments echoed those that were read in his press release from Saturday morning.

"“As a program, we had tremendous momentum coming into the 2019 season with the opening of the new south end zone facility as well as other strategic investments in our football program,” Sterk said. “However, we lost a great deal of that energy during the last half of the season. This decision was difficult to make but was necessary.”"

Odom was fired for not carrying the momentum Sterk believed was brought to the team with the new facilities. That does not mean if the project was finished next spring that Odom would still be around, but it certainly didn’t help.

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Sterk repeated himself — he wants a coach who “brings a lot of energy and experience to the program.” Sterk and others felt Odom was not that guy given the way the season ended. The AD said he felt Odom lost momentum of the team and they could not move forward under his leadership.

What’s interesting about that is many players on the team and former Mizzou players came out in support of Odom on Saturday. They believe this was not the right decision.

Sterk added the decision to fire Odom was made in the past 24 to 48 hours. He said it was not an easy one, but one supported by Chancellor Alexander Cartwright and President Mun Choi. It sounds like they came to a decision before the Arkansas game that Odom was gone.

The Tigers announced associate head coach Brick Haley is the interim head coach. They would like to have a coach in the next two weeks.

"“Missouri has the resources to be a top 25 consistently in the postseason to compete for championships. Coach Pinkel showed that in a couple times he went to the championship game in the SEC. I think with the investment that we’ve made recently in our South End Zone project it puts it us on a level, as far as facilities, that are second to none. So I’m excited about the future. I think we have a great opportunity moving forward.”"

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