Every 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. Keep your eye out each week to submit your question for the mailbag or send them to powermizzou@gmail.com. On to this week's inquiries.
eatmyownboogs asks: Gary Pinkel had success at Toledo before he came to Mizzou as a HEAD COACH. Why do some mizzou fans think its okay to give Odom the same leash that was extended to Pinkel even though he has never been a head coach at a D1 level. And is it fair to say Mizzou is in a much better situation now to get a head coach than we were in 2004?
GD: Well, I think you're letting the opinion of a handful of people cloud your judgment. Because I don't see many people giving Odom much leash right now. And definitely not as many as want to use that leash to hang him from the bridge across Providence Road to Faurot Field. The approval rating is not high right now.
The point you bring up is fair and part of the reason so many have doubts. With Pinkel, first of all, he had beaten Illinois and Nebraska and gave Oklahoma a hell of a game in his first three years. Plus he had ten years at Toledo that showed he knew what it took to be a winning head coach in college football. Odom has a win over Arkansas two years ago and a win over Purdue this year. And that's about it.
Pinkel also got more leash because outside of two years under Larry Smith, Missouri had been terrible for 17 years when he took over. Fans expected nothing. Winning eight games in 2003 was almost the equivalent of playing in the Orange Bowl for Missouri fans. When Odom took over, the Tigers were coming off the best decade of football in at least half a century (and I say ever). I've laid out the reasons the program wasn't in as good a shape as many might have thought at that time, but the biggest thing is Missouri fans have expectations now. Bowl games are a given, eight wins is normal, ten wins isn't a shock and playing in conference title games should happen somewhat regularly. Those expectations may or may not be fair, but that's what they are because that's what Pinkel made them.
Back when Missouri was looking for a coach in 2015, I told people privately (and may have shared on here, I can't remember) that I wouldn't want to be the guy to follow GP. You never want to be the man after the man. You want to be the man after that man. The fact is, I'm not sure Missouri could have hired anybody who would have matched what Gary Pinkel did in the next 15 years. He was one win short (in any of four tries) of reaching the absolute maximum potential of Missouri football. If he'd won one of the four league title games, there is no dispute he's the best coach in school history and there's a much greater appreciation for what he did at a place that's tougher to win at than fans will admit. I think Barry Odom has a chance to be a very successful head coach in college football. I'm just not sure he has enough equity built up to remain at Missouri long enough for it to happen here. And he got the job at the wrong time.
