According to a report in the Kansas City Star, University of Missouri will appoint current University of Miami head men’s basketball coach Frank Haith to replace their current head men’s coach, Mike Anderson. Anderson was recently named head coach at University of Arkansas. According to The Star, one Missouri booster called Haith’s hiring “unbelievable,” expanding that “Frank’s a nice guy. But it is unbelievable. You couldn’t guess that name.”
Yes, Haith isn’t a household name, and this announcement won’t make waves the way hiring, say, VCU coach Shaka Smart would have. Haith has amassed a rather pedestrian record at Miami (129-101) with just one trip to the NCAA tournament in seven seasons. But here’s another number that you may find interesting: 95. As in, Haith graduated 95 percent of his seniors (21 of 22) at Miami, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. And that’s exactly why fans and talking heads nationwide should be singing Mizzou’s praises, rather than lambasting the institution for this hiring.
Let’s take a look at some of the graduation rates for schools in this year’s NCAA tournament field (of which Miami is not a member). The numbers represent the percentage of students who entered during the 2003-04 academic year and graduated within six years. National finalist Connecticut: 30 percent. UConn victim Kentucky: 44 percent. Prior UConn victim Arizona: 20 percent, the lowest in the field. In fact, only five “power-conference” teams have graduation rates above 90 percent: Illinois (100 percent), Marquette (91 percent), Notre Dame (100 percent), Vanderbilt (93 percent), and Villanova (100 percent). Missouri checks in at an underwhelming 44 percent.
It’s that last statistic that should have been the driving force behind Missouri’s hiring decision. Of the coaches at the five schools mentioned above, one (Marquette’s Buzz Williams) just signed a seven-year contract extension, keeping him off the market for the foreseeable future. Bruce Weber (Illinois) and Mike Brey (Notre Dame) are under contract through 2015, and Villanova’s Jay Wright is locked in through 2013. That leaves only Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings, who currently makes more than Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and is therefore in no hurry to leave Nashville. So who else is there to turn to for a school that wants to increase an anemic graduation rate?
And it’s not like Haith is just an average Joe. Between his assistant coaching stops at Wake Forest, Texas A&M, and University of Texas, Haith recruited six McDonald’s All-Americans, including former UT standout LaMarcus Aldridge. Yes, he only has a .561 winning percentage as a head coach, but .561 isn’t too shabby for Miami, particularly considering his first season as head coach coincided with the school’s move to the ACC. This isn’t Kansas or UCLA we’re talking about, but a team that has won back-to-back postseason games just twice in its history—the second occurrence coming in the 2005 NIT under Haith. He was a finalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year Award in his first season as a head coach, losing to Illinois head coach Bruce Weber, who had led the Fighting Illini to a 37-2 mark, tying the NCAA record for wins in a season.
But never mind that, some say. Frank Haith has never taken a team to the Final Four and only won 129 games at a school not known for its basketball prowess, and so his hiring just means that the Mizzou administration is utterly clueless. No, they should have gone harder for a bigger name who specializes in “one and done” student-athletes. Wait, these guys are expected to be students as well? They’re supposed to go to class and do their work when they aren’t on the basketball court? Who ever could have imagined that?
In the “win at all costs” world of big-time college sports, it is refreshing to see a school that seems to understand both halves of the term “student-athlete.” Were there other coaches potentially available with more attractive on-court credentials? Aren’t there always? Are there other hires Mizzou could have made that would have thrust Columbia, Mo., into the national spotlight this week alongside Houston and Indianapolis? Certainly. Did those coaches graduate 95 percent of their players? Umm…
Let the mass-media windbags expel some more hot air, Missouri. This sports columnist is raising his glass to you.
Ben Cohen is a member of the Class of 2010
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