COLUMBIA, Mo. — The official word came via text message. That’s how Missouri Athletic Director Mike Alden found out that his men’s basketball coach, Frank Haith, had accepted the same position at the University of Tulsa.
Haith has accepted at contract at Tulsa that will pay him $1.85 million a year for 7-years. Alden, in speaking with reporters in Columbia late Friday morning, says he will head up the search for a new coach, and will not discuss the names of any possible replacements.
When asked about the perception of Haith leaving an SEC program like Mizzou, for what might be perceived to be a lesser job at Tulsa, Alden said:
“I don’t know if it’s deflating. It’s disappointing because I think you enjoy working with people. I very much enjoyed working with Frank. He’s a very good person. He’s a good basketball coach and it was our intention to work together for quite sometime but he made a decision that he wanted to work somewhere else and I wish him the best as he goes forward to Tulsa,” Alden said.
When asked the same question by ESPN, Haith said of the Tulsa job: “This is a great fit for me and my family. We had great leadership at Missouri and I had a great relationship with athletic director Mike Alden and our administration.”
Alden says there is no timetable for hiring a new coach, but admitted that this is not the ideal time of year to begin a coaching search.
Haith just finished his third season at Missouri. Before Missouri, Haith was head coach at Miami (FLA) where he went 129-101 in seven seasons and had just one NCAA tournament appearance. At Missouri, his first two teams went to the tournament, but this year’s team missed the NCAA tournament.
FOX 4 has a crew in Columbia and will have more from Mike Alden. Refresh this page for updates.
