Each week, PowerMizzou.com publisher Gabe DeArmond answers questions from Tiger fans in the mailbag. This format allows for a more expansive answer than a message board post. If you missed this week's mailbag, keep an eye out next week or send your question to Gabe at powermizzou@gmail.com. On to this week's entries.
fmb68 asks: So, do you have Verizon cellular service, or will you be switching to it if you don't? Slightly more seriously, I've heard Yahoo Sports was one of Yahoo's stronger operations. Do you, and your colleagues across the Rivals platform, have any feelings how the merger will affect your world and PM? Do you even talk about such things? It must have some impact on your budget and programming plans.
GD: Oddly, I am switching to Verizon and had already planned to. Sprint has no coverage where my son is going to college next year, so if we ever want to talk to him, we have to change. On the merger, honestly at this point, we really have no idea. But I wouldn't expect anything to change. We're going to keep our heads down and do our jobs and if anything does change down the road, somebody will probably tell us. Nothing is going to be finalized until some time in 2017 anyway and so our plan for football season certainly isn't impacted in any way.
mufootball1 asks: How likely is it that the following recruits sign with Mizzou? Please reply with Very Likely, Likely, Unlikely, Very Unlikely.Larry BoydMarques HayesChester GravesDaRon DavisYes the question has been asked before, but as circumstances change it's really a different question.
GD: Larry Boyd--Likely
Marques Hayes--Very Unlikely
Chester Graves--Don't have a good read
DaRon Davis--Likely
amhorrell asks: are their any recruits we're recruiting for 2017 that play immediately if they end up signing with the Tigers?
GD: Absolutely. A few of them always play as true freshmen. As for which ones specifically, I can't tell you that yet by any means, but there are always a handful.
MObluejay asks: Any idea where we stand with Tony Adams? Did he attend Night at the Zou? Also did you get a chance to talk to Chris Allen about his interest?
GD: Adams was unable to make the camp. He had planned to attend and something came up which prevented him from making the trip (I don't know specifics). I didn't have a chance to catch up with Allen on Saturday night. He is one of the guys we'll be getting in touch with soon.
MuleTiger10 asks: The basketball staff has offered 2 PG's in the last week (Bede and Carr) for the 2017 class. I thought they were looking for a wing and a big, has that shifted to a guard and a wing since we have 3 bigs in the 2016 class?
GD: I'm going to be real honest here: The chances of Missouri signing anyone in November just aren't very high. They have two scholarships for next season, but it's not exactly a secret Anderson's job is on the line. The likelihood that a kid is going to commit and sign early in that situation isn't great. They're certainly out recruiting and working still, but I just think really we're going to have to wait until the spring to see what happens. I know they want a scorer and I'm not sure what position he plays matters. But like I said, I just don't anticipate anything really happening in the early signing period.
mjharr asks: From talking to folks around the search for a new athletic director, what sense do you get about where ties to Mizzou factor in to the mix? I realize it's different with each candidate and the pool as a whole, but I tend to think we overvalue those. Sure, the past year has left a lot of the Mizzou community with shell shock, but I don't think the template for Mack -- hiring someone with a solid reputation in the industry -- was proven to be poor just because the fit didn't work this time. I worry that taking someone from inside the Mizzou community may come with its own disadvantages in terms of being saddled with preconceived notions about various actors around the institution, whether its the BOC, our administrative heads at Jesse Hall and the fan base. Is there a risk that in trying to find a healing presence, you wind up with someone who comes with the same worldview that may hamstrung the department in the past?
GD: I think it's something to consider, but even calling it a "factor" may be too strong. In other words, I think it's something you think about, but it's not something that is heavily weighed in the end. Ideally, I think it should be used as a tiebreaker. It is my opinion that getting someone with Mizzou ties might be more important in this case than I would normally say it is, just because of everything that's gone down in the last year or so. But they're not going to hire somebody with Mizzou ties if they can get someone they believe is better who doesn't have them. Really, my belief they should hire someone with Mizzou ties is two-fold: First, I'm not real certain (in fact I really don't believe at all) that they can get anybody better who doesn't have Mizzou ties right now. Second, the last thing you want is to get 18 months down the road and do this again because the next guy decides the hill is too steep like the last guy did.
mufootball1 asks: How likely is it that the following in-state 2018 DTs sign with Mizzou? Please reply with Very Likely, Likely, Unlikely, Very Unlikely.Trevour TroutMichael ThompsonRonnie PerkinsDaniel ParkerAlso, if they all wanted to commit to Mizzou would Mizzou take all four? In your opinion, will all four be rated 4 stars? Is Trout a possible 5 star?
GD: Trevour Trout--Possible
Michael Thompson--No idea
Ronnie Perkins--Likely
Daniel Parker--Likely
I think they'd take all four. They're all high level players. And maybe they're capable of playing on the other side of the ball too. Trout and Thompson will be four-stars I think and Trout has been on the radar so long he may very well be in the running for five. I see Perkins and Parker as likely high threes, though with good junior seasons that could be bumped up.
mexicojoe asks: Which would be a greater achievement/accomplishment for the 2016-2017 season?Football winning 9 games and winning a bowl game vs a power 5 opponent Or Men's Basketball having a winning regular season record and two post season wins?
GD: Surface level, they're both about the same. Basketball would surprise me more, so might be a greater accomplishment in that sense. As far as the impact, though, it's not close. It's football. It's ALWAYS football.
Ragarm asks: 1. How about an status update on the softball field construction. The construction cam doesn't seem to be working. It has the same picture that it had a month ago.2. Has Title 9 forgot about Earleywine or has it been lost in the shuffle with Mack's skedaddle?3. How did the coaches feel about Night at the Zou operation and do they feel they need to change anything with the way they did things?
GD: 1. I honestly have no idea. Haven't really looked lately and haven't asked (not even sure who I would ask anyway at this point).
2. Good question. This is past the point of being ridiculous.
3. From what I hear, they thought it went well (and I think it is likely to look even better in the next few days). But then again, I'm not sure they'd say anything other than that.
MizzterMizzou asks: Any idea on how Kurt Angle got involved with J'den's effort to raise funds for Rio? Is J'den working out at a facility affilated with Kurt? I wouldn't have thought it was just something Kurt saw and promoted on his own.
GD: Sorry, but I really don't know. J'Den is having a media session Thursday. I'm not going to be able to attend, but that may be something that comes up.
BayAreaTiger asks: As an outsiders (media/fan) perspective, what was your thoughts on the Night at The ZOU? Did it look like the recruits were enjoying it or did they look bored? What you saw would you change the way they ran it or would you keep it pretty much the same?
GD: I thought it ran pretty well. Obviously I didn't get to see a lot of what was going on the first couple of hours, but when they were on the field it went well. All the reviews I've gotten from recruits have been positive. Good players like being around other good players. I think this is definitely something Missouri should continue in future years. I don't know when this plan came together, but I just heard about it a month ago or so. Perhaps with a full year to plan it and one under their belts there will be changes and improvements, but honestly, they're a lot better equipped to decide what those should be than I am.
mizzouboy714 asks: With the staff much more focused on the Detroit and Louisiana areas, how many of them end up in this class? How much success will they have in those areas going forward?
GD: That will be interesting to see. I think Mizzou can have some success in Detroit. A.J. Ofodile knows a lot of people up there. Now, you're not going to routinely get kids with Michigan or Michigan State offers. And you're not going to get Louisiana kids with LSU offers very often. So, just like Texas or Atlanta or Florida or whatever, Missouri has to do well with those tier two kids from those states. The highly ranked recruits Mizzou is going to get will usually come from Missouri or very nearby. I'd also target Chicago quite a bit, which Mizzou has done to some extent.
doya asks: I have seen in the tweeter that a guy named Frazier from northern illinois is a candidate for mizzou AD job...he has reportedly turned down multiple P5 jobs. He is a northeast guy who played football at bama. Have you any info on him and is he a legit candidate and do you think he would have interest in mizzou job and why?
GD: Other than Dan Wolken tweeting that he was a candidate, I don't know much about Frazier. Someone did tell me that his name seems to pop up for virtually every Power Five opening. Could mean he has a great agent, or it could mean in this case that he is an actual candidate. At this point, honestly, I really don't know.
muenger03 asks: Have we seen the Odom recruiting bump yet? If not, will we? If not, what does it tell us, if anything?
GD: Not really. Thus far, it appears Missouri recruiting is similar to what it was in the past. I will say that I think the staff is being more aggressive than the past one. I think they're chasing some more coveted kids. So if they end up landing some of them, the ranking could be better than in the past. If you don't see that bump, I think what it tells you is pretty simple: Recruiting to Missouri just is what it is. It's not a traditional power or a blueblood and so your recruiting classes simply aren't going to be top ten in the country. The vast majority (I've looked at it before, but don't recall the exact numbers--something like 70% of top 10 classes come from about 16 schools) of top-ranked recruiting classes come from the same handful of schools every year. You can say that's a confirmation bias in the rankings and that's somewhat true. You can also say that those are the teams that tend to have the best players and that's also somewhat true. I've long said I think Missouri should try to live in the 20-30 range in recruiting rankings and every now and again when there is a really strong in-state class maybe jump up into the top 15. Expecting more than that at Missouri is, in my opinion, setting yourself up for disappointment.
sewelld asks: In your opinion, what states (other than Texas) should be focus areas in the next several years and why? For example, Coacn AO is focusing on Michigan/Detroit - do you think that bares fruit and eventually enables access to other Big 10 states? Does putting in efforts in Georgia and Florida make sense given our lack of success there even though the amount of talent there is ridiculous?
GD: This kind of goes along with the above question. Obviously Missouri, Kansas and Illinois are important. Get the big-time kids out of that area. You need to continue to hammer Texas, in my opinion. I like the Michigan idea because I've said for a couple years that I think Missouri should recruit Big Ten territory and sell kids on being the closest place they can play in the best conference in the country. I just don't see Mizzou having long-term success in SEC states. A Florida kid will pass literally every other school in the conference if he gets in his car to drive to Columbia (not A&M or Arkansas technically, but both are closer to home than Mizzou, or very nearly as close). You're simply not going to go into Alabama, Georgia and Florida and pull a lot of kids with a lot of other SEC options. That's just fact. So you go there and maintain relationships and yes you take the kids you can get and sometimes you strike gold with a guy like Walter Brady, but I would put those states behind the others I mentioned on a priority listing.
Tigerkip asks: Night at the Zou, we know some former MU players were in attendance, PM mentioned Will Franklin. From your observations what other former Football Tigers were there? Who and how did they interact with the prospects? (i.e. were they assisting on the drills or just talking on the sidelines, etc.) Thanks.
GD: Will Franklin was there because he works on the football staff. I didn't see any other former players. I do know the coaching staff reached out to some of the guys that are currently in the NFL, but with training camps starting this week, it probably would have been tough for most of them.
brosept asks: How legit of a candidate is Baker for our job? How is he viewed by people in and close to our programs?Seems to have a pretty diverse and legit resume for someone who hasn't been a P5 AD yet. Has been a lower level AD, an associate AD at Memphis, is already now familiar with Mizzou, and is the interim AD as we speak.I know he was initially discussed, but any new insight about him since?
GD: I'm going to guess this question was asked prior to the report that Baker is a finalist for the North Texas job. I think Baker would have been a candidate for the Mizzou job. I don't know if he'd have gotten it, but he had some people with pull in his corner (including, from what I've heard, the head football coach who worked with him at Memphis). But I fully expect him to be named the AD at North Texas in the next few days. Does that mean he found out he wasn't a candidate here? It's possible. But I think it's also possible that this process has been ongoing since before he was even named the Interim AD. I know it's relatively close to where he is from. And the simple fact is, if he has that job, it's a tough thing to wait around and HOPE he gets this one. Long story short, I think he would have been a candidate, but I think the North Texas stuff makes it a moot point.
