Faith in Haith: Life After Miami U Zoo for Mizzou's Frank Coach
Stripping away the veneer, it was difficult for the average Missouri fan to invest much time exhibiting an abundance of faith in Frank Haith after he was hired as coach to replace Arkansas-bound Mike Anderson. Mizzou followers were dismayed after coach Matt Painter didn't leave his alma mater (Purdue) to accept the job and Haith's good-guy reputation was tainted by strip club partying with a Ponzi schemer booster at Miami (FL), where he never had a winning ACC record in seven seasons with the Hurricanes (43-69 overall league mark).
But Haith's timing was impeccable as he quickly turned a faith-building corner by impressing brothers Flip and Matt Pressey to stay with the Tigers rather than tagging along with Anderson, the college roommate (at Tulsa) of their NBA father (All-American Paul Pressey). Haith rewarded the gifted guards with significantly more court time and the Presseys responded accordingly.
Haith, giving his seven-man rotation an average of more than 25% additional playing time than they had their last year under Anderson, laid the groundwork to win one of the national coach of the year awards. The potent Pressey pair enjoyed almost 50% more minutes between them than they did in 2010-11.
Overcoming a major obstacle, Haith was forced to deploy a four-guard lineup after 6-8 forward Laurence Bowers incurred a season-ending knee injury. The previous year, Bowers paced the Tigers in rebounding and was runner-up in scoring.
Upon earning national acclaim, Haith joined the following list of five coaches who did so in their debut season for a school after serving in a similar capacity the previous year with another DI institution: Eddie Hickey (Marquette '59/after leaving St. Louis), Tom Davis (Iowa '87/Stanford), Eddie Sutton (Kentucky '86/Arkansas), Kelvin Sampson (Oklahoma '95/Washington State) and Matt Doherty (North Carolina '01/Notre Dame).
The prospects for Missouri reaching its first Final Four hinged on the Tigers securing another faith-building milestone - a "home state" berth in the St. Louis regional. It was "Home Sour Home" for Mizzou 30 years ago when the #2 seed Tigers, featuring All-Americans Ricky Frazier, Steve Stipanovich and Jon Sundvold plus national coach of the year Norm Stewart, failed to capitalize on a St. Louis venue and lost in the 1982 Midwest Regional semifinals, 79-78, against Houston's Phi Slamma Jamma contingent in the debut season for Hakeem Olajuwon with the Cougars.