I am not a CMA hater by any means. I am thankful for the many good things he did for our program, understand his desire for a "bigger" program, and wish him the best.
The newspaper columnist and the fans on Tigerboard.com seem to be divided into 3 groups: Those that never wanted him hired and want him fired now, those who supported his hiring, but have seen enough and want him fired now, and a third group who say he has to have 2 more years to turn it around or it will be harder to ever hire another coach.
I know all us fans are somewhat "delusional" at times, but these Mizzou fans must think they are Kansas or Duke. From the way they talk, you'd think they have a history of being world beaters. Some of the things they are saying sound a lot like the stuff said by IU fans about CMD.
Mizzou was pure money grab. I believed then, and believe now that CMA could have bided his time and gotten a better gig.
I disagree Smaug. Mike A. had to strike while the iron was hot. He knew that 06-07 was going to be tough, and a bad record and no postseason would hurt his stock.
BatesUAB Wrote:I disagree Smaug. Mike A. had to strike while the iron was hot. He knew that 06-07 was going to be tough, and a bad record and no postseason would hurt his stock.
+1
We would have been better that it worked out with CMD, as we would have had Riley and Tiller, but still making the NIT would have been a stretch.
Good point. Though I'd still call it a money grab, because Mizzou was then and is now a trainwreck.
ShelbyCoBlazer Wrote:The newspaper columnist and the fans on Tigerboard.com seem to be divided into 3 groups: Those that never wanted him hired and want him fired now, those who supported his hiring, but have seen enough and want him fired now, and a third group who say he has to have 2 more years to turn it around or it will be harder to ever hire another coach.
The newspaper columnist and the fans on Blazertalk.com seem to be divided into 3 groups: Those that never wanted him hired and want him fired now, those who supported his hiring, but would rather see him at an SEC school and want him there next year, and a third group who say he has to have 2 more years to turn it around or it will be harder to ever hire another coach.
I was at Mizzou for three years -- the last two years of the Norm Stewart era, and the first year of the Quin Snyder debacle.
Norm Stewart was a good coach, he was just old, and he had lost his ability to connect with the younger players. His last season was the year they went undefeated at home -- including beating a No. 1 Kansas team by 20 -- and then proceeded to go winless on the road, losing by an average of 32 points outside of the Hearnes Center.
Somehow, they managed an NIT-bid and hosted UAB. UAB became the first team in seven years to beat Mizzou at home. It also marked the end of the Norm Stewart era.
Quin -- or maybe his hair -- was hired to "revitalize the program." Instead, he nearly destroyed it. By the time he left, home attendance was at an all-time low, probation was imminent, players were getting phone calls in jail from his trophy wife, and he stood a good chance of getting stoned to death if he set foot on campus again.
CMA walked into a horrible situation at Mizzou. It was money that led him there. It will be money that leads him away. Anyone at Mizzou who doesn't think that program was at rock-bottom when he arrived is delusional. CMA needs at least five years to turn that program around. Most of the thugs he's dealing with now were Snyder's recruits, or, because of the reputation of the program, the best he could recruit to start. He needs time.
The problem is that today's society wants an instant fix for everything, which is monumentally stupid.
care to share the UAB -MIZZU NIT game story?
I love it.......
personally I think MA could have stayed here and retired had his wife not wanted to go.
There is allot more to that story than was ever told.
Don't forget that Snyder started dating the daughter of Bill Laurie, the same daughter that was involved in the cheating scandal at USC and the same daughter that they tried to name the new Mizzou arena after.
The St. Louis writers have been very fair with XCMA. They understand that he inherited a mess, mainly with the culture of the team (sound familiar) and that it will take time for him to rebuild. That said, they have also said that he needs to produce something next season or it won't be looking good. On a side note, JT Tiller is turning into a pretty damn good player for XCMA.
STLouis Blazer Wrote:Don't forget that Snyder started dating the daughter of Bill Laurie, the same daughter that was involved in the cheating scandal at USC and the same daughter that they tried to name the new Mizzou arena after.
Snyder dated Paige? Did he divorce the trophy wife he married right after he arrived on campus? Or was he dating this chick on the side?
Oh yeah. He was definitely dating her when he left.
Then tell it, Attalla! Preach the word!
That Anderson was open to a higher bid from a "power conference" member was not a shock to UAB, or shouldn't have been. What Anderson is probably wishing is that he could have known that the UOK job was about to also open. I don't believe UMO would have been his first choice between the two.
CMA never won anything without a point guard that can act as a coach on the floor. See Eric Bush, and sometimes Mo Finley, and of course Squeaky.....
That is what it takes for his system to work. Without that, it will be hard for him to go better than .500 in the conference.
Smaug Wrote:Good point. Though I'd still call it a money grab, because Mizzou was then and is now a trainwreck.
I will compleetly agree with that. It was most definitely a money grab. A really large one at that.
He didn't get much more money than what we were offering.
STLouis Blazer Wrote:He didn't get much more money than what we were offering.
exactly
which is why I don't give a azz rats what he does.
xcma flirted with every job (incl. aub.)that came open after year 1 with our Blazers.
his game was/is a gimmick, and opposing coaches were/are on to him.
imo, the best days for UAB basketball [under xcma] were probably behind us.
I, for one, am glad he's gone.
I don't necessarily miss CMA but many of you are wrong about him. He didn't leave UAB just because of money, he left because;
1. Better conference
2. Better facilities
3. Better exposure
Say what you will but Mizzou has a pretty good basketball history and it's not a graveyard. They can become a winner again. Whether or not CMA is the one that will bring that winning tradition back is another story.
I think CMD is a better coach than CMA. I think CMD recruit better than CMA. I think CMD style of play will benefit us better in the long run than CMA style of play. JMHO.
He was offered a LOT, A WHOLE LOT more by Mizzou than what UAB had available, and don't let the fantasy and rumors suggest otherwise. UAB was nowhere in the ballpark. Attalla, with better connections on this than I have, will confirm this.
UAB was not, did not, cannot anytime soon -- and if things don't go just a certain way in the next three or four years -- may not ever be able to keep a coach away from a big-six conference that wants him.
Let's dispense with the fantasies now on that.
And if you want to keep Mike Davis, you need to start having a whole lot more crowds like Memphis instead of having 3K empty seats for the 2nd-biggest game of the year. If you want to give Mike Davis a chance to close the deal on that "top-5 recruiting class" then stop letting those players see a tomb on game night.
If you want to trace where UAB lost Anderson, it would be when he took the team to the Sweet 16 one year and couldn't fill the building the next. Because it was right then he knew he was not going to get significantly better players than he inherited.