Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Eli Hoff in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Transcript
Eli ±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýMorning, all! Thanks for coming by. I want to start this chat off with a couple of talking points before we get to your questions...
First, a shoutout to a loyal chatter, theMick, for writing me this week with a really interesting analysis of which college football programs produced the most NFL Draft picks and how that correlated with their finish in the football coaches poll last season. As you can quite easily see, there's definitely a relationship between NFL talent and team performance — which makes sense, right? What we were pondering was whether it's also a fair metric for evaluating coach performance. Does a team like Ole Miss placing well without exporting a ton of players to the NFL signify good coaching? Does USC not having a good season but exporting NFL talent show sub-par coaching? I think you could make the argument that this shows where some coaches excel as recruiters/developers vs tacticians. Anyway, here's a graphic theMick told me I can relay — the commentary is his. And if he has more thoughts, I'll patch them through here as we go.
Also, I want to make sure all of y'all see today's story on Mizzou athletics finances. After writing about the budget a few months ago, I got a lot of questions about spending and the financial support from campus to athletics — we've discussed that in the chat here at least a couple of times as well. Y'all raised some excellent questions that I had as well. I made sure to ask UM System President Mun Choi about this during a media scrum we had last week so that I could be crystal-clear on what his stance is. I also spent some time digging for other SEC schools' budgets to see how MIzzou compares. I think there are answers to a lot of the questions that have come up in that story. You might not agree with them, but Choi is on the record about this now. I think that's an important part of my job in this situations, so hopefully y'all find this piece insightful and important.
Now for the fun stuff — your questions!
Hotspot Bigshot:ÌýWill Missouri mbb get a viable post player or they going with what they have?
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýI wrote about this the other day, since it's kind of the last frontier of the transfer portal as far as hoops is concerned. I get the sense that the staff is trying to make this happen and get a legit post player in. The top couple of options from early in the window (Tarris Reed, who went to UConn, and Jevon Porter, who went to Loyola Marymount) didn't pan out. And then Jordan Butler entered the portal. So a position that was already a priority isÌýreallyÌýa priority. But I could also see a scenario where they don't bring in a post player. I was talking with one of the assistant coaches last night (fun stuff from that chat will head your way soon) and he said Mizzou wants to get back to more 5-out offense. That doesn't necessarily need a true center. You could have a frontcourt of Trent Pierce and Mark Mitchell and make that work just fine. Then it's a matter of finding rebounding and rim defense on the other end of the floor.
The quality of post players in the portal is dropping too, since it's late in the cycle and a lot of players have committed. Maybe the staff doesn't want to bring in a player who they're not 100% sold on.
All that to say: There's still a search going on for a post, but I don't think it's catastrophic if they don't get one. Rolling with who's on the roster now and the two freshmen down low could wind up fitting Gates' style just fine.
¸é³Ü²õ²õ:ÌýGood morning, Eli. You recently wrote about Mizzou's MBB post position. My question, even if they don't add a post player in the portal, do you think this team, as it is currently constructed, will get back to the NCAA tournament in 2025?
Hoff:ÌýGood morning! As I kind of hinted at there, I think this team can still work without a post player from the portal. Offensively, there's an argument to be made that having 5 perimeter focused players could produce better results than a 4-out, 1-in kind of arrangement. It's not like Mark Mitchell/Trent Pierce/Jacob Crews/Aidan Shaw can't play at the rim or down low. The bigger thing will be on defense. Can somebody box out opponents' centers? Can they hold up while switching? To the latter point, a true center might not work too well with a system that wants to switch every position.
But to your question: I think this team can get back to the tournament if Mark Mitchell breaks out as an All-SEC player, Tamar Bates continues his growth and the defense improves. That's a recipe that worked in Gates' first season. It could work again. It's mostly a matter of these transfers hitting and the team staying healthy — the two things that didn't really happen last season. It's tough to tell how the transfers will translate to the SEC and this system, though. There's optimism and uncertainty at this point in the offseason.
bigron:ÌýEli, can Mizzou still acquire addn'l players from the portal even though the portal is closed?
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýYes! The portal is a funny thing. When it closes, it closes forÌýentries. It remains open for exits. Players had to be in by the time it closed, but they can pick a new program at any time. Many choose to do it pretty quickly, but some wait. Take Drew Pyne, the new backup QB. The winter transfer portal window closed long before he made his decision to come to MIzzou. He's an exception and not the rule, but he did follow the rules there.
Questions:ÌýI did not watch the new AD's press conference but I did read your article. I get what they're saying about the rising tide of football raising all programs, but were any of the Olympic sports even mentioned that Missouri has done well in recently (Wrestling, Gymnastics, Volleyball, etc.)? Does Veatch have a record of success in sports other than football or MBB?
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Hoff:ÌýThe other sports did not come up, or at least not in any significant way. Football's not a priority, it'sÌýtheÌýpriority. Looking through the Director's Cup (which evaluates athletic departments on all sports), Memphis last year did decently in men's tennis, women's track, men's basketball, football and both men's and women's soccer. That's where they earned points for their rankings in the Director's Cup, anyway. Veatch is inheriting wrestling, volleyball, gymnastics and softball programs that are already in great shape. Baseball will take time before it's fair to evaluate it again. But that's as of right now. We'll see if that changes with this focus on football being crystalized.
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moe:Ìýdoes the $250,000,000 stadium renovation project include an increase in capacity?
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±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýIt will add somewhere around 2,000-2,500 to the stadium's capacity, but it will be an imprecise measure because premium seating isn't as rigid as regular seats, and it takes up a lot more space. The bigger impact, from a stadium atmosphere standpoint, will be the the stadium is closed in. Maybe that makes it louder? Time will tell there.
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CoMoTiger:ÌýThe Board of Curators seemed to talk out of both sides of their collective mouths. They talk about financial responsibility, but most of the big-ticket items in the last few years they either approved or mandated -- buyouts of coaching contracts in men's basketball, baseball, volleyball and tennis; Drink's extension and raise, Gates' raise, etc. Plus they just approved a stadium project that is twice as expensive as what was originally envisioned. I don't mind the campus investing in athletics at all, but if they do, then their actions seem to say otherwise.
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±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýThat's a fair critique. For what it's worth, they've said that they see the north concourse renovation as a way to generate revenue as a year-round event space that also boosts what revenue football can bring in. They're borrowing money with that goal in mind. You can like or dislike that logic, but it's what they've said on that front. When anyone in the administration talks about financial responsibility, there are asterisks with that. People want to see their priorities get money and things they don't care about not get money. That seems to be more of what this is about, in my eyes.
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Tahart27:ÌýGood day to you Eli-hope all is well your way! Is it ridiculous of me to think that with the hiring of the new AD, that the most important thing for the Missouri Board of Currators was that they got their "patsy"(if that's the correct term. Apologies if it's not, but I'm sure you know what I mean) more than any other important factor with him? He is, afterall, someone who has worked at Mizzou in the past, probably even has solid friendships with a lot of powerful people above him who are still there. I also am concerned that he will--either due to his own ego and/or on orders from higher-ups--undo some of the great ideas DRF had such as the Mizzou To The Lou events. The "lesser sports" seem to already be a non-concern at least to the BOCs since they were(and still are) in no hurry to fire Pingeton(sp?), whom will get yet another year to coach the WBB team that, in my opinion anyway, she does not to deserve to have. If you get the idea that I'm apparently now in the minority in that I am unable to see DRF as the "bad guy" who deserved to be sent packing, you are absolutely correct.
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Hoff:ÌýOne of the hard things about this moment for Veatch is that he has no control over what went down in the months before he got this job. So all the questions/concerns/grievances/etc still lingering from Desiree Reed-Francois' exit are still, well, lingering. And they really have nothing to do with Veatch. He didn't pick himself for the job. He is who he is and the search committee liked that. Some of it, maybe most of it, was that the BOC thinks he'll stick around for the long haul. That was evidently a priority. But does him wanting to be in Columbia then lower his stature as an athletics director? I feel like there's been a sort of weird view of him that because he wants to be at Mizzou, he must not be very good at his job. I get that a lot of MU fans are cynical (I grew up watching Minnesota sports — I understand that), but who says someone can't like a workplace and be good? I know that isn't really your argument here, that's just something broader that I've noticed. And maybe it's just from a minority. I'm not saying he's a good or bad hire, but it feels unfair to ding him for wanting to work at Mizzou.
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Maybe he'll undo some of the things that Reed-Francois did. Maybe he'll keep them. That's one of the things that I'll ask him once he's had a few weeks to wrap his head around this place and start having some of his own concrete plans. His first priority is to fundraise — something that he's known to be very, very good at.
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The women's basketball coaching decision was a byproduct of the timing of this AD search. I'm not sure there was a way for that to happen that would have really pleased fans. And the views on non-football sports seem to be stemming from the Curators and trickling on down. Time will tell with that too.
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More broadly, though, I think it's possible to both have been a fan of what Reed-Francois is doing and be open to what Veatch can bring to this job — in the same way that you can like some of the things Reed-Francois did and have questions about some of the other things. This doesn't have to be viewed through a lens of absolutes. I'm not going to tell anyone how to think or feel about this situation — I just want to lay as much out as I can — but I don't think it's fair to view Veatch and Reed-Francois as adversaries or anything like that. The common denominator between their tenures is the university administration.
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senior scramble:ÌýDo you know if Coach P is going to go after a couple of Bigs in The Portal. Thanks
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±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýI'm not sure what she's looking to target in the closing days of the window, but she did get Southern Illinois forward Laniah Randle signed last week. Randle is a little undersized for the front court (5-11) but averaged 7.2 points and 6.5 boards. She was named to the MVC first-team and given that conference's most-improved player award. Seems like she should be able to contribute in that part of the court.
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Tahart27:ÌýI know nothing about who is the top candidate(candidates) to be the new Kicker this year for MU football. Yes, I feel shame for allegedly being a diehard Mizzou fan and having no knowledge about this matter! Would you please be so kind as to fill me in on this? And apologies if it's something you likely have been asked umpteen times by now, but for various reasons, I have not been able to keep up with your weekly chats for the past couple of months.
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±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýYou're all good! I think a number of Mizzou fans haven't wanted to conceive of a world without Harrison Mevis booting the ball through the uprights from what seemed like Jeff City to the north endzone, at times. Blake Craig is in line to replace him. He was a very highly rated kicker out of high school and has developed at Mizzou a little bit. He handled some kickoffs last year. I didn't watch a ton of him during spring ball, but he's seemed like a decent option there. We'll know more about what kind of leg he has in the regular preseason camp, I imagine.
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Tahart27:ÌýBitter sarcasm questions: 1. Will Dennis Gates/Mizzou basketball ever in our lifetimes ever get a true Big Man Who can rebound the ball? It only seems like about an eternity since we last had one. Does Dennis Gates have a problem "coaching" rebounding in general? Should he hire an assistant coach who specializes in teaching how to rebound the ball?
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±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýWell, on the assistant coach side... He did hire Rob Summers, one of his top assistants from Cleveland State, recently. Summers will focus on working with the frontcourt/post players. He's a 7-footer himself (I talked to him a couple weeks ago and can confirm he's very tall) so he knows a thing or two there.
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Tahart27:ÌýBitter(kind of) sarcasm question #2: Will Mizzou Softball ever actually have a roster filled with players who can hit the ball? It certainly with blend well with the usual good-pitching Anderson's teams have mostly had.
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±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýThis year's team has done enough offensively to be in line for hosting a regional. It seems like they just have 2-3 spots in the batting order that aren't as consistent as they'd probably like. We'll see what that looks like when the postseason rolls around very soon here.
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Fly Man:ÌýHow about basketball going to a "district " style play in to March Madness instead of playing a team for the 3rd time in a league tourney. Example: Missouri Illinois District would feature teams from SEC (mizzou), big 10 (Illinois, NW), MO Valley (siu-c and mo state, bradley), A-10 ( slu) and other D1 teams. Top 2 teams go on to March Madness and also leave some at large spots for better teams. Chance to prove which conferences are best, create rivalry games and opportunities to host top teams in area close to travel fan bases. Knock off teams from other conferences.
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±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýCollege sports actually being regional is awesome. Too bad conference realignment is — eh, I won't get into that. This does happen sort of organically, since the high major schools in this area tend to get some of the smaller ones in nonconference play. But it's not as competitive as you mention here. It'll never happen, but a regional tourney like you outline there would be super fun to watch. Imagine if Indiana State's run in Arch Madness earned them a game against, say, Indiana to get into the NCAA tourney. I'd watch that!
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