Out of the Pouch

By: Dan Stroud

Posted: 1/14/08

The Kansas City Star had an article last week which stated the "the honeymoon was over" for UMKC head basketball coach Matt Brown after a disappointing 5-12 start to the season. There are some who would beg to differ with this assessment.

UMKC Athletics Director Tim Hall, for one, isn't concerned about his program's slow start out of the gate this year.

"We're building a program here," Hall said. "No question, it will take some time to get there."

The leader of the Kangaroo athletics department came to UMKC last February with big plans. He was adamant about just where he wanted to go in an interview with this reporter after his hiring.

"I really believe that UMKC can be in the top third across the board in the [Summit League]," Hall said. "I believe we can compete for and win and win league championships in every sport … and I really think we have a great opportunity to do that."

Fast forward 11 months and there is little surface evidence that can support the A.D.'s claims.

In the fall, the volleyball team finished eighth in a nine-team field. The cross country team also finished its season in eighth place.

The UMKC soccer team had its bright spots during the year, garnering a regional ranking midway through the season. But league play turned out to be more than the squad could handle.

Soccer coach Rick Benben's team finished fourth in a field of six teams and reached the Summit League playoffs before being eliminated in the first round by regular season champion Oakland University.

The men's golf team showed promise in the fall with a third place finish in the Battle of the Bend Golf Tournament held in Many, La. Both the men and a women's team that struggled will compete for league honors in the spring.

Basketball, which is without question the dominant sport on the UMKC scene, has seen its fortunes increased by the hiring of two promising young head coaches and numerous player and equipment upgrades.

Men's head basketball coach Matt Brown came to the university with great fanfare, one year removed from the experience of coaching back to back NCAA tournament squads at West Virginia University.

On the women's side of the round ball, head coach Candace White-Whitaker had her interim tag lifted in the spring and was touted for the impressive coaching bloodline she arrived with and would be able to offer to a young team.

The teams however have struggled to find their place in the new and improved Summit League at the beginning of the season. Until Saturday evening's sweep of Southern Utah University, neither squad had garnered a league victory. Their combined record in the conference is now 2-8.

Both coaches are feeling the pressure to perform; it can be easily read all over their faces after each loss. They both surely realize that high expectations come with the territory and they put themselves in the eye of the storm when the keys to the gym were accepted.

None of what has occurred this season looks or feels like the promise Mr. Hall offered Feb. 19, 2007. But is it fair to hang one's hopes on these words after such a short period of time?

Rome wasn't built in a day. You build a foundation one brick at a time. Patience is a virtue. These are sayings that have been passed down from generation to generation.

But we live in a "now" generation.

The Missouri football program had been mostly poor, mediocre at best for the past 25 years heading into this past season. The program had been built and torn down four times over this period with the hirings and firings of Woody Widenhofer, Bob Stull, Larry Smith and Gary Pinkel, the current coach.

Each tenure started the same way, with a great deal of promise and the expectations that followed. Widenhofer, Stull and Smith failed to get the job done. Pinkel was often maligned for his coaching techniques and his seeming inability to win the big game.

At the end of each of the past three seasons, talk was rampant that he should be replaced, that the program, though heavy in solid recruits, was dormant once again.

Mizzou Athletics Director Mike Alden hung with his coach, and in the 2007 season, Pinkel and the Missouri Tigers, after seven seasons of work, became the champions of the Cotton Bowl.

Let's hope it doesn't take that long to build the UMKC program back up, but let's give the "Hall Gang" a little room to breathe.

The good news is both basketball teams seem to be embracing their new offensive and defensive assignments. More importantly, they seem to be embracing each other as well as their coaches.

"Guys have got thicker skin now," said UMKC senior guard Tim Blackwell after the squad's win Saturday. "Everyone understands when someone talks to them about their game … it's to help them improve … it's to help the team."

In the coming weeks we'll visit each program and try to find out what lies below the surface that is going to enhance it next season and those seasons yet to come. Meanwhile, it might surprise some of you just how intense UMKC athletic events can be. Get out there and catch some action.

dstroud@unews.com