Editorial
Anderson is the right man for the job
By Shawn Davis, posted 4/19/06

After weeks of turmoil following Quin Snyder’s resignation as men’s head basketball coach, the Mizzou faithful can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Announced on May 25, the new head coach will be UAB’s Mike Anderson.

Anderson is a perfect fit for the job. He will take over a team that last season finished 12-16 and often seemed to quit when faced with any kind of adversity. Anderson will bring a different style of basketball to Mizzou, one focused on defense and applying 40 minutes of pure hustle, something Snyder’s teams seemed to lack over his tenure. He calls his style “the fastest 40 minutes of basketball,” a style he learned as an assistant under Nolan Richardson at both Tulsa and Arkansas. Anderson volunteered his time as a coach at both schools until he was finally offered a coaching position in 1988. Thanks in part to Anderson's recruiting and ability to control practices, Arkansas advanced to its first Final Four in 1990. After that year, Anderson was promoted to recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach. Together, he and Richardson would lead Arkansas to national prominence and a national championship in 1994.

“I always knew that he would have the right opportunity to build a program at a place like Missouri,” Richardson said in a press release concerning Andersons hire. “In my estimation he is truly one of the finest young basketball coaches around at this point in time.”

Along with Anderson receiving excellent reviews, the University has gained respect for hiring someone that will spark life into a program that needs it desperately. Anderson brings a style of basketball based on defense, a style that the Big 12 has never seen before. It will be up-tempo and fast-paced with full-court pressure, unique defenses and pure hustle, unlike Snyder basketball which was often dull on both ends of the floor. Anderson may not coach the prettiest style of basketball, but it gets the job done. At UAB his unique style turned a team that went 13-17 the previous year into an NIT team in the biggest one-year-turnaround of 2003. The Blazers went 21-13. Over the next three years, UAB became a force to be reckoned with as they won 20 games each year and made it to the NCAA tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2004.

"Mike Anderson is a proven winner. His teams play a unique, entertaining style that will be fun to watch,” Kevin Weinberg, the Commissioner of the Big 12 conference said in the same press release. “I think Missouri fans will be impressed with how hard his teams play. We welcome him to the Big 12."

Not only is Anderson a great coach, but he is an even better person. He expressed an interest in becoming active in the community and running a program free of controversy, which is a breath of fresh air for Mizzou fans. He will bring excitement into a $75 million dollar arena, which struggled to draw 10,000 fans last year. More importantly he will rejuvenate a community that has been down on not only Mizzou basketball but the athletic department as a whole. People will once again come to see Mizzou play, not just Mizzou and Kansas. He will help give the public something positive to talk about, and something to look forward to. If he could turn a 13-17 team at UAB into a tournament team, why can’t he do it with a young team loaded with talent here at Mizzou?

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