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Posted on 12/19/15 at 11:26 am to the808bass
RockMNation.com by Bill C. on 12/19/15.
First, a word about Pat Ivey. We might never find out what happened over the last couple of weeks -- how he went from announcing he was staying a couple of weeks ago to apparently being let go on Thursday. Dr. Ivey was just about everything you would want from a strength coach and, per his title, Athletic Director for Athletic Performance.
Ivey seemed to be good at his job, first of all, and he seemed legitimately interested in developing young men and women, not just developing muscles. He was as much a part of "Mizzou Made" as Gary Pinkel -- he had a major role in the Total Person Program, which allowed us to feel good about the quality of person Mizzou was producing on average -- and he had the admiration of his student athletes. And he just seems like an awesome dude and perfect representative for your program.
He's also a strength coach. There are a lot of good ones. I'd have preferred he stay at Missouri, but until proven otherwise, I'm assuming that, if this was indeed Barry Odom's decision (and it appears that way), there was a reason behind it. Perhaps it was a philosophical difference regarding how football players should be training. Perhaps it had to do with Ivey's role in Missouri's brief boycott back in November. Perhaps they just didn't get along. If you know this isn't going to be a good working relationship, there's no reason to string it along. Odom's going to make plenty of decisions that make me nervous moving forward -- he already has -- but he has the benefit of the doubt until he loses it.
I occasionally have silly thoughts that pop into my head during a given football season; if they seem unreasonable even to me, and if I don't see anybody else espousing them, I just tuck them deep down inside and assume I'm wrong. But they still plant seeds sometimes.
This year's silly thought, which I had from September onward: Missouri's offensive players simply weren't strong enough. The receivers weren't holding blocks. The offensive line couldn't get a push all season, against either good defenses or bad. Between that and the fact that Missouri has been roughed up by injuries for two of the last four years, I started to wonder how good Ivey actually was at being a strength coach.
This is patently unfair. I know. He's won awards. He's clearly good at his job. But if nothing else, I'm using this dumb twinge as a reminder that other opponents were stronger than Missouri this year, and that other strength coaches might be as good or better than Pat Ivey. If Odom finds one of them, then all is fine. It will forever be disappointing to lose someone like Ivey for reasons of athletic culture if nothing else, but in terms of his primary job, he wasn't irreplaceable. He was a #MizzouMade catalyst, and losing him hurts, but there are lots of good ones, and Odom probably already has one in mind.
First, a word about Pat Ivey. We might never find out what happened over the last couple of weeks -- how he went from announcing he was staying a couple of weeks ago to apparently being let go on Thursday. Dr. Ivey was just about everything you would want from a strength coach and, per his title, Athletic Director for Athletic Performance.
Ivey seemed to be good at his job, first of all, and he seemed legitimately interested in developing young men and women, not just developing muscles. He was as much a part of "Mizzou Made" as Gary Pinkel -- he had a major role in the Total Person Program, which allowed us to feel good about the quality of person Mizzou was producing on average -- and he had the admiration of his student athletes. And he just seems like an awesome dude and perfect representative for your program.
He's also a strength coach. There are a lot of good ones. I'd have preferred he stay at Missouri, but until proven otherwise, I'm assuming that, if this was indeed Barry Odom's decision (and it appears that way), there was a reason behind it. Perhaps it was a philosophical difference regarding how football players should be training. Perhaps it had to do with Ivey's role in Missouri's brief boycott back in November. Perhaps they just didn't get along. If you know this isn't going to be a good working relationship, there's no reason to string it along. Odom's going to make plenty of decisions that make me nervous moving forward -- he already has -- but he has the benefit of the doubt until he loses it.
I occasionally have silly thoughts that pop into my head during a given football season; if they seem unreasonable even to me, and if I don't see anybody else espousing them, I just tuck them deep down inside and assume I'm wrong. But they still plant seeds sometimes.
This year's silly thought, which I had from September onward: Missouri's offensive players simply weren't strong enough. The receivers weren't holding blocks. The offensive line couldn't get a push all season, against either good defenses or bad. Between that and the fact that Missouri has been roughed up by injuries for two of the last four years, I started to wonder how good Ivey actually was at being a strength coach.
This is patently unfair. I know. He's won awards. He's clearly good at his job. But if nothing else, I'm using this dumb twinge as a reminder that other opponents were stronger than Missouri this year, and that other strength coaches might be as good or better than Pat Ivey. If Odom finds one of them, then all is fine. It will forever be disappointing to lose someone like Ivey for reasons of athletic culture if nothing else, but in terms of his primary job, he wasn't irreplaceable. He was a #MizzouMade catalyst, and losing him hurts, but there are lots of good ones, and Odom probably already has one in mind.
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