Year one of the Barry Odom era ended with a 4-8 record that included wins over Eastern Michigan, Delaware State, Vanderbilt and Arkansas. Year two of Odom's tenure is off to a rough 1-3 start, including a three-game losing streak where the Tigers have been outscored by South Carolina, Purdue and Auburn 117-30.
It's been a tough start for Odom since the opening weekend of the season when they beat Missouri State 72-43, and at his post game press conferences, with whispers about whether he's the right guy for the job growing, Odom took the opportunity to make his case after their 51-14 loss to Auburn.
"The microphone is on, so let's talk real life and where we're at, all right? I want to get one thing real straight, I am going to win here. That is going to happen. We will win, and this is a turnaround. Any way that you slice it or want to look at it. This is a turnaround process, and unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I'm built for this because I've been a part of a heck of a lot of them my entire life."
Odom then went on to rattle off a handful of years and head coaches that fans wanted to run off, including Odom's predecessor Gary Pinkel, who ended up winning the SEC East in two of their first four years in the league.
"Fast forward to 2004, when everyone wanted to run Gary Pinkel out of town, now that's pretty damn foolish because all he's done is become the winningest head coach in program history. That was a turnaround. It took time."
"I don't like it. I want to win right now, but that's not the hand I've been given. We're doing a lot of really good things in this program."
Gary Pinkel's final season at Missouri ended with a 5-7 record, but the two years prior to that (2013 and 2014) he led the program to 12-2, and 11-3 finishes, respectively so while everyone understands that a new head coach wants to build a team in his own image, "turnaround" may be a rather strong word.
Missouri's next few games are on the road at Kentucky and Georgia, and then at home against Idaho before heading to UConn for a non-conference tilt. They end the season with home games against Florida and Tennessee before hitting the road for Vandy and Arkansas to wrap up the year.