Tigers see bowl berth as sign of progress

ST. LOUIS -- A 6-5 season and another low-level bowl has left Missouri athletics director Mike Alden happy, but not impressed.

The Tigers are preparing to play Steve Spurrier's South Carolina team in the Independence Bowl on Friday in Shreveport, La.

For Alden, who longs for a return to the glory days of the 1960s when Missouri had 10 straight winning seasons and finished in the top 25 eight times, this year's showing is evidence of some progress.

"I think people forget that we are where we are today not based on last year, or the year before that; it's based on 20 or 30 years," Alden told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "If I was to look at a snapshot of the year overall, I think I'm pleased with how we played this year.

"With that being said, we're not going to be satisfied with being 6-5 and just trying to work our way into bowl games. You want to do that consistently, and then you want to see those wins improve over the course of time."

Missouri is preparing for just its fourth bowl game since 1983. But critics of coach Gary Pinkel say the momentum he gained early in his tenure has stalled.

This season, Missouri appeared on the verge of challenging for the Big 12 North title after a 3-1 start. But they lost three of their last four games, including a loss to rival Kansas, and needed to beat lowly Baylor just to get a bowl bid.

"I guess the only satisfaction out of the season is that we did make a bowl game," senior linebacker Derrick Ming said. "This was definitely not the season everybody expected to have. You look back at some of the games that we should have won, and it's disappointing."

Fans aren't enthusiastic, judging by Independence Bowl ticket sales. Through Friday, the team had sold only 2,500 of its tickets, which would be the lowest number by a Big 12 team since the Independence Bowl began its affiliation with the conference in 1998.

Pinkel said the season wasn't all Missouri wanted, but was still a success.

"Missouri's been to four bowls in 22 years. I'd suggest that it's a successful season," Pinkel said. "I told the players at the beginning of the season that we were going to have our ups and downs. That's the way it is. And I thought they did a good job handling everything."

Alden and Pinkel said the program was in shambles when Pinkel took over five years ago. Pinkel had to regain the trust of high school coaches around the state and reinvigorate fans and boosters. But the most important thing Pinkel had to do was produce a marketable product.

In the 22 years following coach Warren Powers' last bowl appearance in 1983, the Tigers have had 11 seasons in which they've won three games or fewer. Pinkel has won at least five games in each of the past three years.

Pinkel and Alden acknowledge that they're not deaf to the comments being made about the team, the coaching staff and a desire for change.

Most of that desire for change is not directed at Pinkel but toward members of his coaching staff, chiefly offensive coordinator Dave Christensen. He already had been a popular target for trying to make quarterback Brad Smith, the NCAA's all-time leading rusher among quarterbacks, a pocket passer in 2004. Missouri changed the offense this season to suit Smith, but at times it reverted back to some of its play from last season.

"I coach my coaches, and I feel very good about my staff," Pinkel said. "I think it's really easy to sit there and change coaches. To show people that, 'Hey, he's making a change and he's doing this and that.' But I won't do that. I'll do it if it's the right thing to do. I'll do it in a heartbeat if it's the right thing to do."

Alden said, "For us to be able to say that we've had two winning seasons in the last three years, and we've been to two bowl games in the last three years, there's hopefully a pattern that's starting to develop. My thought right now is that Gary and his staff and our team are starting to gain some traction there. That consistency will start to come."