Haithers Gon' Haith

After critics questioned his hire, Frank Haith is having last laugh with Missouri.  (Photo courtesy of ESPN)


To the casual college basketball fan, Frank Haith is nothing close to a household name.  To the educated hoops aficionado, however, Haith is a genius this year; one who shocked those who analyze the sport for a living when he left the University of Miami for Missouri after Mike Anderson this past offseason, and has thrown himself into the role of national coach of the year frontrunner after a 20-2 start in which the Tigers have ascended as high as the No. 2 spot in the polls.  "It's been extremely gratifying so far;" said Haith earlier this season when interviewed by college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, "but we haven't had to deal with any type of adversity yet."


For someone like Haith, not having to deal with adversity is a change of pace from what he has gone through over the course of his 46 years.  Having worked his way through the ranks as an assistant for parts of three decades before finally getting his first head coaching job at Miami in 2004; Haith knows no other way than overcoming obstacles, be it professionally or personally.


Anyone in the city of New York remembers the tragic Sean Bell shooting in 2006; when Bell was murdered the day before he intended to get married, shot fifty times by three police officers.  How does this relate to the head coach at Missouri, you might ask?  Sean Bell was Frank Haith's nephew.


Haith, a Queens product who made his name assisting Dave Odom and Rick Barnes at Wake Forest and Texas, respectively, inherited one of the better teams in the Big 12 upon Mike Anderson's departure to Arkansas.  With all five starters coming back, the Tigers were expected to be contenders in a conference that was out there for the taking.  Before the opening tip of the season could be contested, Heath had to endure yet another kick to the gut when senior forward Laurence Bowers tore his ACL.  Bowers is sitting out this season with a medical redshirt and will return next year, an injury that forced Haith to rely on a four-guard lineup similar to the one Jay Wright honed to perfection at Villanova.


The four guards have been nothing short of spectacular.  Marcus Denmon has displayed an ability to score and run the point equally well in a season where he is fighting Kansas' Thomas Robinson for Big 12 Player of the Year honors.  In addition, Kim English has blossomed as a sharpshooter while Michael Dixon has come off the bench and provided a spark similar to the one Tom Izzo got from Chris Allen and Korie Lucious in recent years at Michigan State.  Finally, there is sophomore point guard Phil Pressey.  A 5-10 dynamo who is the son of a former NBA great, (Milwaukee Bucks legend Paul Pressey) Phil averages an astounding six assists per game setting the table for his older brother Matt, English, Denmon and senior forward Ricardo Ratliffe.


Not too long after Haith accepted the job at Missouri; he was implicated in the Nevin Shapiro scandal after the Miami booster's list of transgressions included the Hurricanes' basketball program, yet another in the litany of circumstances that have tried to stand in the way of a determined head coach who is finally getting the respect and recognition he deserves after spending eight years taking a dormant Miami program and turning it into a consistent postseason participant in an area where college basketball is far from being considered a hotbed.


Mike Anderson may have the "40 Minutes Of Hell," but Frank Haith has 40 minutes of a team that is a simple pleasure to watch just because they play the game the way it is supposed to be played.  A team that executes fundamentals and makes finesse plays look routine, one looking like a prototypical recipe for a long run into March.


When he took the job at Missouri, Frank Haith raised a lot of eyebrows.  Ten months later, eyebrows are not the only things being raised in the wake of Missouri's 20-2 start.  Frank Haith is turning heads one person at a time, much to the surprise of every critic whose initial reaction to the coaching change in Columbia was one of shock.  Some are still downplaying this hot start, calling it an aberration amid the likes of perennial Top 10 programs like Kentucky, Syracuse, Ohio State and North Carolina.


Long story short, Missouri looks like a program that is on top to stay; and for those still in denial about the Tigers' success, I offer this assessment:


Haithers gon' Haith.