re: How Do You Build An Elite Program?

yep, they understand how to make their presentations "pop", which is a huge struggle for Mizzou.

maybe more relevant for the purposes of recruiting is:




These uni's look like they were meticulously crafted and rechecked for every detail, top quality design work... the Nike stuff done for Mizzou, by contrast, look's like it was done by the jv team of interns just hired off the street, thrown together and tossed over the wall with a "here ya go... good enough" snicker added on.. part of building a dominate program is understanding when to "accept good enough" and when to say "sorry this doesn't cut it",, in Alden we have a reactionary not a visionary, he's good at taking checks from donors, with strings attached, when it comes to having a big picture view, he's not even in the ballpark of what we need. Hopefully this is something our new Chancellor will correct, I expect Pinkels retirement and Aldens "move up" to his next career advancement to coincide, and that may be the only thing that can really get us to the next level, if we are to get there.

Having the Nike sugar daddy of Knight has clearly been the big factor, though it would be an interesting debate on how much Belotti vs Kelly had in contributing to clearing the final hurdles. Nike has donated 100's of millions and maybe added that much more in pro-bono design work(who knows) what's clear is Mizzou has NOTHING like that in our backyard. We got what 10million from some of the Walmart family mostly to build a new basketball arena for their kids to play in? Yea not even remotely in the ballpark when it comes to the differences in what these two billionaire entities have contributed respectively.

As for the so called "Rams" issue, I'm really sick of this line of reasoning that somehow pro sports are what is holding Mizzou back. There are pro sports in nearly every big programs home state not named Alabama. The Florida teams, Texas teams all contend with not just multiple pro franchises but neighboring DI powers as well. This is just a ready made excuse for people looking for excuses, it's a lame argument that deserves no time.

Oregon has put together a good program but it's not necessarily the only way it can be done. Plenty of schools have simply made the right hire and gone from pretender to contender, Kentucky and Vandy recruiting well in football wash away a huge amount of "can't be done" arguments from the usual crowd. Programs do turn around practically over night, and sometimes the reverse happens too, a few like the Nubs and Tenn are struggling to get back up the ladder. It really does start at the top and that's why the next regime could be the critical factor for us, what we know is that Pinkel and Alden are good at getting some basics done and in place, but if they really had "the knack" it would have been apparent long ago.