Missouri State Fires Dana Ford

[ValleyFAN]

Anything is possible obviously but right now it seems more likely than not that the Bears are looking at hiring either
a. Ben McCollum at Northwest Missouri State
b. A "big swing" type retread DI coach. Think Tom Crean, Chris Mack, Bob Huggins, someone along those lines. There are a couple posters on our board who are most definitely "in the know" who say that we are very involved with a big time name coach who is interested, but they aren't willing to leak who it is at this point.

Could still end up hiring K-State assistant Rodney Perry, former Bear and current Grizzlies assistant Blake Ahearn, or someone else completely, but right now the intel we have is pointing to either of the above as more likely than not.

Hire Ben McCollum and let's go.

That's what a clear majority of the fan base is ready to do. Hopefully we'll know something sooner rather than later.

[TylerDurden]

Anything is possible obviously but right now it seems more likely than not that the Bears are looking at hiring either
a. Ben McCollum at Northwest Missouri State
b. A "big swing" type retread DI coach. Think Tom Crean, Chris Mack, Bob Huggins, someone along those lines. There are a couple posters on our board who are most definitely "in the know" who say that we are very involved with a big time name coach who is interested, but they aren't willing to leak who it is at this point.

Could still end up hiring K-State assistant Rodney Perry, former Bear and current Grizzlies assistant Blake Ahearn, or someone else completely, but right now the intel we have is pointing to either of the above as more likely than not.

Please, please, please, please don't screw this hire up by bringing in Tom Crean or Bob Huggins.

I know there are no guarantees in the coach hiring business, but if Ben McCollum is ready to take the job you should give it to him, support him with whatever he asks for and see how things go.

[BCPanther]

Anything is possible obviously but right now it seems more likely than not that the Bears are looking at hiring either
a. Ben McCollum at Northwest Missouri State
b. A "big swing" type retread DI coach. Think Tom Crean, Chris Mack, Bob Huggins, someone along those lines. There are a couple posters on our board who are most definitely "in the know" who say that we are very involved with a big time name coach who is interested, but they aren't willing to leak who it is at this point.

Could still end up hiring K-State assistant Rodney Perry, former Bear and current Grizzlies assistant Blake Ahearn, or someone else completely, but right now the intel we have is pointing to either of the above as more likely than not.

Please, please, please, please don't screw this hire up by bringing in Tom Crean or Bob Huggins.

I know there are no guarantees in the coach hiring business, but if Ben McCollum is ready to take the job you should give it to him, support him with whatever he asks for and see how things go.

A 70 year old alcoholic Bob Huggins is the prototypical Kyle Moats hire.

[BEARZ77]

BOG called into special meeting late today; could mean nothing about athletics, but of course some are tying that to McCollum's team being eliminated last night from the D2 national Tourney so his season is now done. We'll see. Moats has also hired Kellie Harper and Beth Cunningham , so whether that's simply the blind pig scenario, he's only got connections for WBB , or something else, Moats has had his moments.

[BEARZ77]

Starting to hear a lot of conjecture that it's not gonna be McCollum, though he remains who many national pundits are still targeting. Getting more indication it will be a "splash" name, but one man's splash is another man's small ripple.I do believe it'll be Monday we hear something, but MSU is doing it's normal very closed mouth process. Last few hires, Ford, Petrino, Mox, Cunningham were not names MSU fans were expecting.

[unipanther99]

Return of Alford? <ducks>

[BEARZ77]

Return of Alford? <ducks>

Don't know that that is in play anymore [ but might be] but it definitely had legs. Alford under some fire before this year at Nevada and he has expressed that his time in Springfield was good and he wouldn't mind returning. He was in town and discussions were had for sure. Some say it included him with his son becoming CIW . Now I'm not an Alford fan, so I certainly am not promoting this, but it wasn't a false flag. It's infuriating in a way, but I have to give our ADM credit that all our recent coaching searches have been very under the cover and discrete with little real info available till the hire was done.

[Bulldog4life24]

Feels like if it was going to be Coach Mac it would have been done already. They’re not playing anymore. Either MSU missed and is scrambling or is targeting a bigger fish.

[ValleyFAN]

Rumor is that McCollum asked for some program improvements but was told not possible, so he has viewed that the program is not committed to winning basketball. So, he may be out at this point.

[Aces44]

Rumor is that McCollum asked for some program improvements but was told not possible, so he has viewed that the program is not committed to winning basketball. So, he may be out at this point.

If that’s true, McC’s agent should have reminded him that D2 coaches don’t get to ask for “program improvements” from D1 programs before they have won a single D1 game