What the Missouri Tigers need is Larry Brown

If you have been a fan of Missouri Tiger basketball for very long there is a pretty good chance you recall that old feeling. You know, the feeling that has seemed to have taken a hike in recent years.

After Norm Stewart painstakingly dragged the MU basketball program out of that dreary old bat cave named Brewer Fieldhouse and into the sparkling new Hearnes Arena, the Tigers were ranked among the top programs in the country for years. There always seemed to be that aura of expectancy that maybe this was the year Mizzou would go all the way. Sure, it failed to happen but that didn't mean it was an impossible dream. The team was always just a bit shy of being among the nation's very best.

That feeling remained when Quin Snyder took over, but it didn't take all that long for it to fade beneath a cloud of impropriety. Even a new arena they didn't need turned into a fiasco over the naming process. Yeah, that old feeling has pretty much disappeared.

I know how they could get that old feeling back. That feeling plus a possible national championship would be pretty nice. I don't know of anyone who even considers that Missouri has a ghost of a chance to making it that far in that the Tigers haven't even qualified for the NCAA tournament the past two years. Shades of Brewer Fieldhouse and the bad old days.

There's this aging guy who knows how to win simply because that's what he does. Let him coach the Tigers and he could practically guarantee that title before he moved on, which he certainly would do.

Ever hear of Larry Brown up there in Detroit? The very same Brown who brought that very same feeling I'm talking about to a place called Lawrence, Kan. When Brown took over the Jayhawks they were usually second fiddle to Missouri. Fans had even started staying away from Allen Fieldhouse in droves. Well, it didn't take long. After a couple Final 4 finishes, Brown guided the Jayhawks to the 1988 National Championship.

I remember telling some of my KU friends that Brown was a nomad and that he'd leave one day soon. It took him five years or so, and he was gone. But what he left in his wake was a program in great shape, making it possible for Roy Williams to also achieve legendary status.

Brown had made four big time coaching stops before he discovered KU. He went from Carolina to Denver, went down to the college ranks for some time at UCLA, hopped back into the NBA at New Jersey and then took a trip to Lawrence. He has actually had more stops since Kansas than he had prior to arriving there. He went from San Antonio to Los Angeles to Indianapolis, Philadelphia and finally Detroit. Why not Missouri, too?

Brown could come to Columbia and coach the Tigers for five years or so just like he did at Kansas. And you know what? Brown is a winner because he is a great teacher. It takes a great teacher to establish a great program. If you look at Missouri now you have to know the program is no longer great and if you're anything like me you don't like it one little bit.

But I'm afraid things aren't going to change anytime soon at Missouri. They wouldn't be up to going after the guy who might just be if not the best than one of the best coaches in the country. All Brown has to show in his resume is one success after another. That folks, is good enough for me. But would Brown be interested in Missouri? That will undoubtedly never be answered.