I started listening to Missouri basketball games on the radio at age 11 in 1988. Those were the days of Mischievous Derrick Chievous, the Detroit crew and Stormin’ Norm Stewart.
We didn’t have cable in the sticks south of Lebanon, Missouri, so many of the games weren’t on our TV. While my parents and brother were downstairs watching one of our three channels, I’d sneak upstairs, tune into Kevin Harlan and spend the next two hours shooting on the Nerf hoop in my bedroom with the radio crackling in the background.
For decades, I didn’t miss a Missouri game. My schedule revolved around the Tigers during the winter. One of my first driving lessons with the old man was on the backroads of Burlingame, Kansas, after we moved there in 1989. Safety be damned, I insisted we turned into the Missouri-kansas game that season as we drove along the dirt roads outside of town (the Tigers knocked off the top-ranked jayhawks in Lawrence).
For the next 25 years, I found a way to listen to or watch every Missouri basketball game. If I didn’t have access to a TV or radio once I started working in newspapers, I’d follow the play-by-play on the Internet.
The Tigers were good. They contended for Big 8 championships on the regular. They were in the NCAA Tournament most of the time. Though not as consistent as the years passed, they had their moments in the Big 12, reaching two Elite Eights and winning a pair of conference tournament titles before leaving in 2012.
Missouri basketball mattered.
That began to change in 1999 when Norm “retired.” The Tigers traded a red ass for flash, Quin Snyder. That bombed in year seven. After a brief resurgence under Mike Anderson and one glorious season under Frank Haith in 2011-12, Missouri journeyed into the abyss.
In the decade since, Haith bailed for mid-major Tulsa after a mediocre third season, former Tiger Kim Anderson spent more time teaching his players post-game interview etiquette (while losing at a record rate) than coaching, and Cuonzo Martin revamped a roster from a tourney team to one that trailed Liberty 31-7.
At the end of the last two eras, apathy settled in. Missouri fans weren’t watching or listening to games; they were tweeting about the next coach.
Many have asked who I’d like Mizzou to hire. I’ve thought about that quite a bit lately. I’ve arrived at the conclusion that I don’t have a name. I don’t care if new athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois goes after a big name like Dana Altman. I don’t care if she takes a shot at a guy like Sean Miller, who’s not afraid to operate in the shady underground of college basketball. I don’t care if she rolls the dice on Kim English, who was one of my favorite players.
What I want is to care again. Make Missouri basketball matter.