According to ESPN, Missouri State is firing coach Barry Hinson. This is potentally a VERY dumb move.
With the team moving into the new JQH Arena next season they’re obviously wanting to cause a “buzz” and create “excitement” for the team. The problem is that unless they can bring in a real name for their head coach the buzz is going to be about a .500 ballclub that’s trying to get used to a new coach’s system under players recruited by the old coach. Barry Hinson brought wins to this team and was shafted out of getting into the NCAA tournament numerous times. (I’ve long thought the NCAA is corrupt and the selection process for the NCAA tournament is grounds for a serious federal investigation to see if there are back room deals being made.) The man averaged nineteen wins a season and there are many NCAA schools who would love to be able to win that many games a season.
I’m not from here so I don’t have any emotional attachment to Missouri State. I might go to a game if I thought the team was competitive and there was a serious chance to win. A new arena is not going to draw me in just for the curiosity of the new arena. That “new arena” feeling wears off after you’ve been in there around half an hour. After that, the product better be there. Barry Hinson brought winning teams to the table. Things like making the NCAA tournament were out of his hands…especially the year Missouri State was the highest rated RPI team in history not to make the tournament. (That’s when I firmly believed the NCAA was corrupt and without accountability for their actions.)
When the Philadelphia Eagles opened Lincoln Financial Field and began to play poorly the fans started calling it the “Stink at the Linc.” Unless MSU can bring in a well-known coach who can bring instant winning to the program, we’ll likely hear things like the “SUK at the JQH.”
Let’s not leave out the academic success either. According to ESPN: “Hinson’s Bears have the highest Academic Progress Rates in the MVC and he has seen 46 of his 48 players graduate during his 11 years as a Division I coach.” I may be in the minority but to me graduation rates matter in the equasion. If a coach comes in that brings a final four appearance in the NCAA tournament but the graduation rate is only 50% or so then it’s a loss overall regardless of how many MSU boosters can thump their chests and say the team went to the NCAA tournament.
I’ve never met Barry Hinson and probably never will meet Barry Hinson. All I know is he had a winning program at MSU unlike, say, the football program.
Nice defense, Jason, but the fact is that Mr. Hinson, however well-intentioned, is a weenie, pure and simple. Weenies don’t make good basketball coaches. It’s been kinda sad and embarrassing to watch him flounder over and over and over all these years. Live by the sword, die by the sword … and good luck to a nice guy who has been in over his head for a long time.
Sorry Jason, but I MUST disagree with you.
I dont know if you understand the history of the program or not, but this move is long over due.
Missouri State went from being a program that expected to go to the tournament ever year or so (it was every year under Charlie Spoonhour) to now being told that we are lucky to make it to the NIT under Hinson’s tenure.
This lowering of standards is not just sad, but pathetic.
While Hinson did go to the tournament title game three times - we lost every single one of them - and the one in 2000 was especially hurtful.
In each of those situations (and especially in those couple of years were all we had to do is win that extra game in St. Louis) the team came out completely unprepared and unable to get the job done.
I would also note that the graduation number percentage is just a tad misleading. Anyone who follows the program for any length of time knows that there were an excessive number of players who ended up dropping the program after a semster or thereabouts because of numerous academic reasons.
To put things simply - the program has fallen in a major way and needs to be rebuilt with the proper expectations.
And no, critics arent looking for a national championship every year like Hinson claims. What we are looking for is a competitive team who will be able to compete and win championships and tournaments - and go to the NCAA tournament every couple of years. You know, the same as eight of the other 10 valley schools have done in the past 9 years.
This is a sad commentary on college basketball in the Ozarks. Barry is an honest and sincere man. I know this because I have met him. However, he was innefective in achieving the goals he and the university set for the program. He would be the first to admit that and he has. Should he go? Probably. The one thing the fair weather fans in the hills need to realize is that we will never be able to do all the things that the public wants. We are not Kansas. We will not go to the tournament every year. The reason we went to the tounament every year under Spoonhour was that we were the best team in a horrible conference. Have people forgot how bad the old AMCU-8 was? The important thing is that we support our university, Barry or no Barry!
Hey Chris,
I remember the AMCU 8 vividly.
I also remember that we still went to the tournament under Spoonie in the MVC (and won a tournament title). We also did very well under Alford with a couple of NIT bids and a Sweet 16 NCAA run.
You are setting up a straw man. No one is expecting this to be Kansas, but we are expecting to compete with the rest of the schools in the Valley and go to the tournament more often than zero times in nine years.
May I again remind you that 8 of the 10 schools will have gone to the tournament during that time - leaving only MSU and Evansville as the only ones out.
During that same time CU, UNI, SIU and WSU all rose from the ashes to gain MULTIPLE NCAA births. Even Bradley went to the sweet 16 during that year.
So please, lets stop trying to water down the expectations to make the decision sound evil. It wasnt.
There is no doubt in my mind that Barry is a wonderful guy when it relates to the big questions in life and what not. However, his job also entailed winning basketball games.
It was his charm and that character which gave him the time at Missouri State. Had he been subjected to the same set of standards Mark Bernsen was, we would have been gone long ago.
9 years and not one single birth in the NCAA tourney will get you fired almost anywhere, except for those places that don’t ever expect to see the BIG tournament.
I expect Barry to land on his feet elsewhere and hopefully he can mold a team that has potential to make his style of play work.
Barry however will be just like Dale Earnhardt Jr. of NASCAR and he will never see a championship trophy sitting on his mantle. Some people just aren’t destined to be championship material. How many championships does Bob Knight have since being requested to leave Indiana ? The answer is NONE. His style of coaching doesn’t blend with the caliber of players he is getting at Tech. The same with Barry his coaching style vs the players here at MSU aren’t suited for one another.