Missouri Football: Tigers focused on coach hire, turn down bowl bid

Football season is officially over for the Missouri Tigers. The school’s administration decided on Monday the team is best served hiring a new coach than preparing for a bowl game. 

Missouri didn’t get to six wins but the 5-7 Tigers could have played in a bowl game anyways, because there weren’t enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all the bowl spots. But with Gary Pinkel retiring and the school needing to hire a replacement, the school announced on Monday they will not accept a bowl invitation.

The decision made by the committee means that the Missouri Tigers could be awarded a bowl game, even with their disappointing five win season. The school’s administration decided that seeking a bowl bid was not in the “best interest of our the football program” and that the school’s focus was on “identifying the right leader for our program moving forward.”

It is admittedly an interesting choice to not go to a bowl game, but it’s far from unprecedented, and Missouri will be better off in the long run by finding the right coach to succeed Pinkel instead of trying to finish with a 6-7 record.

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Missouri is targeting Temple’s Matt Rhule, Utah State’s Matt Wells and current defensive coordinator Barry Odom, but there could be some mystery candidates involved too. A few of the top coaching candidates have either been hired elsewhere (Justin Fuente) or are staying at their current job (Tom Herman) so Missouri is making the right call.

And besides that, credit Missouri for turning it down because, frankly, they knew they didn’t earn it.