Well below the Norm

~ Nobody dislikes the current state of the program more than the former coach.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- After 32 years and 634 wins as Missouri basketball coach, Norm Stewart has earned the right to speak his mind. Right now, he doesn't like what he sees.

"People in Missouri took a great deal of pride" in the program, said Tuesday. "It became part of the way of life. Now, I see that deteriorating."

The 100th season of Missouri basketball turned out be a memorable one -- for all the wrong reasons. Unsteady on the court, Missouri (12-15, 5-11) avoided a last-place finish in the Big 12 Conference with a one-point win over Nebraska in its regular season finale Sunday.

Missouri, a No. 11 seed, will meet Nebraska again today in Dallas in the conference tournament's first round.

And talk about bad timing. A Feb. 12 celebration planned for Stewart, 71, and other members of the all-time Tiger team was overshadowed by questions about the circumstances surrounding the midseason resignation two days earlier by Quin Snyder, Stewart's successor.

Those questions continue to swirl around the program as university officials await results from an external investigation into the roles athletics director Mike Alden and his assistant, Tiger broadcaster Gary Link, had in Snyder's departure. Snyder has said Alden sent Link to deliver an ultimatum, with six regular season games remaining, that the coach would be fired after the season.

Stewart declined to directly criticize Alden, whom many Tiger faithful believe encouraged Stewart to step down in 1999.

"I wouldn't get into one individual," said Stewart. "It's obvious right now we're not where we want to be."

Melvin Watkins, Snyder's top assistant and a former head coach at Charlotte and Texas A&M, has led the team since the resignation. While Watkins wants to keep the job next season, most observers suggest Missouri will set its sight on a higher-profile replacement.

John Calipari of Memphis, former Utah coach Rick Majerus and West Virginia's John Beilein are among the top prospects.

Stewart, though, said his alma mater should look for a native son -- he named former players Kim Anderson and Larry Drew -- and eschew flashy outsiders.

Anderson, a former Stewart assistant passed over for the top job at Missouri seven years ago, coaches Div. II Central Missouri State. Drew is an assistant for the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. Both have expressed interest in the Missouri job.

Whoever is selected as the Tigers' next coach should make it a priority to keep Missouri high school stars, said Stewart, a Shelbyville native. He noted that Poplar Bluff's Tyler Hansbrough is a freshman at North Carolina, where he is the team's leading scorer.

"If you can't control your own, you're going to have a tough time going outside and getting players that are as dedicated," he said. "When a player from Missouri hears the fight song, the wrinkle in their neck comes a little quicker."