Rhoades leaving Mizzou for Baylor
Mack Rhoades has packed a lot of action into his 14 months as Director of Athletics at Mizzou. But sources have told PowerMizzou.com that Rhoades’ tenure will come to an end. According to those sources, Rhoades is leaving Mizzou to be the Athletic Director at Baylor. Announcements should come from Baylor and Mizzou by the end of the day Wednesday.
Rhoades will replace Ian McCaw, who is out as Baylor’s AD (along with head football coach Art Briles and others) in the wake of a sexual assault scandal that has rocked Waco and made national headlines.
On January 29, 2015, Mike Alden announced his resignation from the Athletic Director position after 17 years. Rhoades’ hiring was announced on March 9th, but he did not officially take over the job until the final days of April. He came to Missouri from the University of Houston.
Rhoades’ tenure was short, but not short on drama. Most notably, the football team’s public statement of an intent to boycott practices and games until systems president Tim Wolfe was removed from his post last November. Wolfe did indeed step down, as did Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin, who hired Rhoades.
Following that, long-time football coach Gary Pinkel announced his retirement in November. Rhoades hired Mizzou alum Barry Odom to replace him in early December.
The controversy hardly ended there. Throughout a tumultuous basketball season, which saw Mizzou run its historic two-year record to 19-44 under Kim Anderson, speculation raged that Rhoades would have to hire a new basketball coach. Multiple reports had Rhoades actively shopping the job to candidates, but he stuck with Anderson.
The spring sports brought little relief from the roller coaster of the previous few months. Baseball coach Tim Jamieson stepped down following the end of the Tigers’ season and just last week Rhoades named SEMO head coach Steve Bieser as Jamieson’s successor. Meanwhile, a now months-long investigation into complaints about softball coach Ehren Earleywine remains unresolved and rests with the school’s Title IX office.
After all that, Rhoades is departing and headed for one of the few schools in the country that can rival Mizzou for controversy over the previous year. PowerMizzou.com will have more on this story as it develops.
An attempt to reach Rhoades was unsuccessful.
Rhoades' second-in-command, Wren Baker, is a logical choice as the interim AD at Mizzou, but at this time, there is no information on Mizzou's plan going forward.
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