OPINION|
Now that Missouri State has decided to part ways with Dana Ford as head coach of its men's basketball team, the most-important hiring since Charlie Spoonhour in 1983 — during the program’s Division I infancy — awaits.
The Bears have fallen into the “often good, but not great” category for more than a decade, since winning its only Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship in 2011 under Cuonzo Martin. And that team failed to receive an NCAA Tournament bid after falling in the conference tourney title game.
Since going to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in 1999 under Coach Steve Alford, the frustration among a dwindling fan base has mounted. Barry Hinson came close to getting the Bears into the NCAAs three times in eight seasons. Martin once in three. Paul Lusk didn’t come close in seven seasons.
Ford had a near-miss in 2022 when the Bears won 23 games, finished second in the league and went to the National Invitation Tournament. Unfortunately, apathy in the program as much as a 34-31 record the last two seasons cost him his job.
The challenges Dana Ford's successor faces
So who’s next? The 19th head coach in program history had better be a home-run hire, because the longer a program goes without success the harder it gets to find the necessary results and re-light the fuse for an aging fan base or to make younger fans with families care in an age with so many other entertainment options for the dollar.
There are some challenges in finding the right coach. While it’s difficult to be exact, because private schools don’t have to divulge financial records, Ford was in the bottom half of Valley coaches in pay and the Bears’ basketball budget is somewhere around mid-pack.
The upside is that Missouri State has the best on-campus facility in the Valley, though it can be a cold, depressing place when it’s at less than 30 percent capacity. Great Southern Bank Arena is a jewel waiting to be filled, if the 19th head coach in program history - with support from the administration and marketing — can crack the code.
Talent on the roster — if players stay in Springfield
First duty for the new coach will be recruiting players on the current roster because there is some terrific talent to build around. Guard Alston Mason and forward N.J. Benson are potential Valley stars. Guard Damien Mayo Jr. is the toughest player, per inch, of anyone at the mid-major level — if he’s able to stay healthy. Mayo plays so hard that sometimes it’s detrimental to his well being. Forward Chance Moore can be an elite player, if he’s able to gain consistency.
Guard Davion Hill is another keeper. The Pennsylvania High School player of the year in 2022-23, redshirted this season and was a handful while running on the scout team in practice as he took a redshirt season. Hill is the younger brother of former Bears’ standout and professional basketball player Alize Johnson.
Finding shooters is another priority. The Bears shot 31.4 percent from 3-point range, 11th of 12 conference teams, after making only 33 percent a year ago. In today’s version of basketball, the 3-point shot has become a key part of offensive success with the need for four long-distance threats on the floor at a given time.
It’s a whole new world in today’s college athletics with players able to be paid for NIL (name, image and likeness) and the transfer portal. NIL is a bigger issue for mid-major schools. The transfer portal can lead to losing players to bigger schools, but it also can work the other way and lead players from larger schools to the mid-major level. That’s how Missouri State gained Mason (from Oklahoma) and Moore (Arkansas) — though players are now allowed a second transfer without sitting out.
Lyndal Scranton's takes for who is on the shortlist
Speculation will run rampant as the search begins. In most cases, the eventual hire is not on anyone’s initial list. But here are a few names to think about, in no particular order, as the process begins:
Ben McCollum, head coach at Northwest Missouri State
McCollum, 42, is a kingpin on the NCAA Division II level leading the Bearcats to four national championships since 2017 with a solid chance for another this year. With five 30-win seasons in 14 years, McCollum is 366-86 and just finished off its 11th straight MIAA regular-season championship.
As a player, McCollum helped lead the Bearcats to a 51-12 record, including a 29-3 mark during the 2001-02 campaign that culminated with the first Elite Eight appearance in school history.
Quick take: Indiana State’s Josh Schertz has shown that a former DII coach can win big in a hurry at the next level. McCollum was on a Jock 96.9 Sports Reporters segment I co-hosted a couple of years ago, after Northwest won the 2022 national championship. We asked about his interest in coaching at the DI level. He said that was a goal, if he found the right fit. This makes a tremendous amount of sense if McCollum has interest.
Mark Turgeon, former head coach Maryland, Wichita State
While most people think of Gregg Marshall when thinking of Wichita State basketball excellence, it was Turgeon who resuscitated a moribund Wichita State program after his hiring in 2000. He was 128-90 at Wichita State, taking over a program that hadn’t been to an NCAA Tournament in more than a decade and went to three NITs and the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2007.
He led Texas A&M to 97 wins in four seasons and four NCAA berths after leaving Wichita State and was 226-116 at Maryland (2011-21) with five NCAA appearances. He left Maryland in mid-season three years ago with a $5.7 million buyout and has been out of coaching since.
Quick take: Turgeon, if he has the fire and desire to get back into coaching, knows how to elevate a mid-major program in need of a recharge and he knows the Valley landscape. But does Missouri State want to go the “retread” route?
Alan Huss, High Point head coach
In his first season as head coach at High Point University in North Carolina, Huss led the team to a 25-8 overall record, a regular-season Big South Conference title at 13-3 and he was named league coach of the year. High Point was upset in the semifinals of the Big South Tournament by Longwood. High Point averages 84.3 points and shoots 78 percent from 3-point range. Huss has Midwest and Missouri Valley Conference roots.
He played high school basketball in Kansas City and played for Dana Altman at Creighton from 1997-2001 and was a teammate of Bluejays great Kyle Korver on three NCAA Tournament teams. He returned to Creighton in 2017 and spent six seasons on Greg McDermott’s staff.
Quick take: Huss has shown he can win as a head coach at a low-major school, but played for and assisted two of the best in the coaching business at Creighton in Altman and McDermott.
Steve Alford, Nevada head coach
Would either Missouri State or Steve Alford dare to try and party again like it’s 1999? Who knows, but the last coach to lead the Bears to the NCAA Tournament has maintained close friendships in Springfield since his time at Missouri State (1996-99).
His Nevada team is NCAA Tournament-bound but if Alford, 59, desires a place closer to his native Midwest this also could be an ideal opportunity to bring his son, Kory, in as an assistant. Kory Alford is in fourth season as head coach at NAIA Huntington (Ind.) University with a 84-39 record entering his third straight NAIA National Tournament appearance.
Quick take: It’s probably a longshot that Steve Alford would have an interest in coming back to Missouri State and perhaps a longer shot that the school would take him back. But who knows? Thad Matta made the full circle back to Butler a couple of years ago after several seasons away and it’s been a winning reunion.
Three with MSU connections
Blake Ahearn is in his fifth season as an assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies. The St. Louis native was a four-year starting guard for the Bears from 2003-07 and wound up MSU's seventh-leading all-time scorer with 1,677 points and is the Bears' career three-point field goal leader with 276.
Ahearn led all NCAA Division I men in free throw percentage each his first three years and set MSU, Missouri Valley Conference and NCAA single season and career records for free throw percentage. He had an eight-year NBA and pro playing career, with stops in Miami, San Antonio, Utah, the NBA G-League, as well as overseas in Spain, Italy, China, Ukraine, and Puerto Rico.
Rodney Perry played at Missouri State 1991-93 where he was the sixth-man and a defensive stopper on the 1992 NCAA Tournament team under Charlie Spoonhour.
Perry has been an assistant the last two seasons at Kansas State under Jerome Tang. Before that, Perry helped guide teams at Link Academy and the MOKAN Elite AAU program. He spent six seasons as head coach at NAIA Avila University in Kansas City from 2010-16, winning 81 games.
Drew Richards is the UNC Pembroke head coach with a 100-25 record in five seasons as a DII head coach, including 77-17 in his fourth season at UNC Pembroke. He’s guided Pembroke to two straight NCAA Tournaments with a third one likely. The Logan-Rogersville High grad was a highly recruited center and played four seasons at Missouri State (2004-08), appearing in 118 games while helping the Bears compile an 80-49 record and three trips to the NIT.
Quick take: Being an alum should not necessarily be a consideration in looking to fill this job, but a certain segment of the fan base would probably be excited by any of these three because they all have links to better days of Bears’ basketball.
