After a weekend full of reports identifying candidates and then those candidates denying they're candidates, the Missouri Tigers feel they have their man. According to multiple reports including Mike DeArmond of the Kansas City Star, Mizzou basketball will hire Frank Haith from the University of Miami as their next head basketball coach.
The news is...surprising. I didn't expect this name at all but it sort of fits Mizzou AD Mike Alden's profile of hiring coaches with experience at larger programs (although they have usually come from mid-majors). Haith was previously at Texas as an assistant and worked heavily in recruiting. For example, Daniel Gibson and LaMarus Aldridge were a pair of recruits he was in on.
This weekend was filled with rumors and reports of Mizzou's interest in various candidates. From Steve Alford to Shaka Smart to Mark Cronin, it seemed most coaches you can think of were somehow connected to the Missouri job.
This all started several weeks ago when rumors began to crop up that Mike Anderson, Mizzou's then-coach, would be interested in the soon-to-be-open Arkansas job. Once that did open up, Anderson's interest was dragged out into multi-week process before he finally acknowledged his interest and eventually made the jump to Arkansas. Mizzou thought they had their replacement last week in Purdue's Matt Painter but that fell through.
So Frank Haith it is in Columbia. Certainly not the high-profile names that we've seen.
For more on the hiring, check out Rock M Nation.