5 potential job opportunities for P.J. Fleck
By John Buhler
4. Missouri Tigers
Whew, the Missouri Tigers stink. It’s clear that the Tigers made a rushed hire from within in promoting defensive coordinator Barry Odom after the departure of Gary Pinkel. The SEC has poor coaching all across the conference, but how does Missouri not have a win over a Power 5 team yet? Missouri won the SEC East back-to-back seasons only two years ago!
Missouri’s current struggles stem from a larger issue culturally. The Tigers just don’t recruit on par with the rest of their SEC contemporaries. When Gary Pinkel was in charge in Columbia, he would coach in the manner that Bill Snyder would in Kansas State. Neither school got all that many blue-chip prospects, but would field contending teams nearly every year through elite coaching. Snyder is in the College Football Hall of Fame, and frankly, Pinkel should be, too.
The problem is Missouri has two major metropolises in Kansas City to the West and St. Louis to the East. Missouri should not have the worst SEC recruiting class annually outside of Vanderbilt, who has its own issues being a prestigious private school.
If Fleck can win at a high level at Western Michigan, he could have a foothold in terms of recruitment in the Midwest. Really only Mark Stoops of the Kentucky Wildcats ventures into that part of the country for talent to be on his SEC football team.
With Western Michigan winning with Fleck as head coach and Davis at wideout, would it really be all that hard to get some top-tier talent to come to Columbia to play with capable quarterback Drew Lock in his final two seasons? The SEC does not have great coaches. If Fleck is going to get an SEC job, 2017 is the time and Missouri is that place.