During his tenure, former Mizzou Tigers basketball coach Mike Anderson won 111 games in five seasons, including an Elite Eight appearance and three straight NCAA Tournament appearances after righting the program in his first two seasons. He left behind a core of players that should easily finish near the top of the Big 12 led by Marcus Denmon, so as Missouri athletic director Mike Alden should have been able to hire his choice of top tier coaches to take over and remain a conference power. Instead, he hired Frank Haith.
Immediately the question "Why?" became quite common around the Missouri Tigers. Why reach for a guy who never once had a winning conference record in seven seasons in the ACC? Why hire a guy that never finished higher than fifth in the conference in that time? Why bring in a head coach with only one NCAA Tournament appearance on his resume?
The bottom line is that Haith can recruit among the best of them in the country. He worked his magic in assistant coaching gigs at Wake Forest and Texas among others. He also recruited at Miami, although it's clear now that he might have had some help (given the recent allegations that emerged from his time at Miami). But recruiting only goes so far and Frank Haith didn't do anything during his time at Miami to separate himself as a quality head coach.
Instead, Haith racked up an incredible .384 winning percentage in ACC play. He didn't go to any post-season tournaments more than he went to the NCAA Tournament in those seven seasons. His winning percentage is exactly 100 points less than the guy he replaced, and yet Alden went with him. Now that the Miami rumors are swirling about Haith's implicit involvement in severe recruiting violations, the Missouri Tigers have a major issue on their hands.
The time is right to cut ties with Frank Haith whether or not he is found guilty, since there's enough smoke to hit the fire alarm. At this point, no one would blame Missouri for moving on, even if Haith somehow remains unscathed in the end. Allegations of this type are so arresting in their scope that it's important for the university to look decisive in its approach and show that they take this sort of thing very seriously. Haith wasn't worth hiring to begin with, so giving him the axe now is the only approach.