The Waiting Game

E-mailed 8/22/11

Nothing much new today coming out of BoCoMo, just a few bits of further insight:

(1) Vahe Gregorian of the St. Louis P-D says MU is mulling its options while waiting on a Haith probe.
(2) Mike DeArmond of the KC Star quotes MU officials saying that MU isn't sitting still on coach Haith's future.
(3) Not so fast, say CBS Sportline's Gary Parrish.  The approach Mizzou is taking is the worst thing they could do.

In summary: Parrish is right.  If you read nothing else, read his very short article that is very much to the point.  As Parrish says in his article: ""We're waiting for the NCAA process to carry itself out," said Missouri chancellor Brady Deaton. "We're obviously very concerned." Very foolish, too.  With those 14 words, Deaton paralyzed Haith -- just left his coach swirling in unknown winds and gave every program recruiting against the Tigers the ability to cast serious doubt on Haith's future. It might've been an honest statement, but it was a stupid one. Missouri needed to either start negotiating a buyout with Haith based on the serious nature of the allegation or publicly back him against "the word of a criminal" regardless of whether his job is really in jeopardy behind the scenes. Either option would've made sense on some level. But it makes no sense for Missouri to keep Haith while acknowledging it's waiting on the results of the NCAA's investigation into Miami, because investigations take a long time and the wait could destroy one recruiting class and possibly more.  It's difficult for coaches to operate with clouds above. "
He concludes: "There is no way rival schools aren't going to use this against Missouri. I get that. But I can't begin to understand why Missouri felt the need to use it against itself."

Bad news all around.

But, as Bernie from the St. Louis P-D says, at least we have Gary Pinkel.