Commentary: Frank Haith Should Be Fired

Feb 4, 2014; Gainesville, FL, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Frank Haith against the Florida Gators during the first half at Stephen C. O

The Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team is a big deal in Columbia, MO. They are a source of pride of a school that has a lot of basketball history. However, the success of the men’s basketball team since the days of Norm Stewart has been hot and cold.

Once Norm Stewart left, the young Quin Snyder came in and took the Tigers to 4 straight NCAA tournaments. However, NCAA violations allegations, a lack of success on the court and a falling out between the administration led Quin Snyder to resign in early 2006.

The Missouri Tigers thought they hired a home run when they got UAB head coach Mike Anderson to be the next head coach. The first two years of his tenure weren’t great but you could see that the team was building towards greatness. His third season, the Missouri Tigers won the Big 12 tournament and went to the Elite Eight winning 31 games. Mike Anderson shockingly left for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Once again, Mike Alden was searching for a new head men’s basketball coach. The search early on was focused on Matt Painter. It seemed like it was Matt Painter or bust from the beginning. It became a bust as the Tigers had to settle on Frank Haith.

Now the common narrative on Frank Haith was that he was a great recruiter but a sketchy game day coach. In his first season, he shocked everyone by winning 30 games and the Big 12 tournament. However, the Missouri Tigers became only the 7th 2 seed to get beat by a 15 seed. The Tigers have been on a downfall since then. Even though the Tigers have won 20 games each of the past two seasons, the schedule is marred with bad losses and constant player departures creating no continuity for the Missouri Tigers.

Frank Haith  is known as a great recruiter but his 2013 class has been disappointing. The class had 5 recruits, four of them rated as a four star or better. Not one of those recruits are averaging double figures (10+ PPG) for the season. In fact, not one of them is above 6 PPG for the season. In a year where freshmen are making a name for themselves, Missouri’s freshmen are not. That falls squarely on Frank Haith.

Nothing Frank Haith has done has built Mizzou into a staying power in the SEC. No consistency, no game plan and no hope for a deep run in the NCAA tournament. He was the bust option that saved the University of Miami’s administration the time and effort to fire him. So Missouri will have to make a decision in a few short weeks. Stick with Frank Haith or kick him to the curb. If the results of this season are the objective measure, then their is no question that Frank Haith shouldn’t be the head coach of the Missouri Tigers next year.

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