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Are offensive staff changes inevitable considering Missouri’s struggles?
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A third-straight SEC East title is out of the question for Missouri and even qualifying for a bowl game is in doubt, which is enough to make fans wonder if changes to the coaching staff are coming.
The Tigers’ offense is in such disarray that actually scoring a touchdown in Thursday night’s 31-13 home loss to Mississippi State was a marked improvement and cause for great celebration. That’s enough to lead one to believe changes on the offensive side of the program are inevitable. Head coach Gary Pinkel’s job is not in danger. The Missouri administration has ridden out disappointing seasons and an arrest for driving while intoxicated before, and Pinkel has rewarded them by getting Mizzou back to the top of its division.
But assistants on the offensive side of the ball can’t feel particularly safe, especially with former Missouri offensive coordinator Dave Christensen serving as the offensive line coach at Texas A&M. One would have to think Christensen, who engineered the Missouri offense back in the days when Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin were moving the ball up and down the field with ease, would be interested in returning to move back up into an offensive coordinator position.
Current offensive coordinator Josh Henson came to Missouri in 2009 and quickly showed his value as an offensive line coach and recruiter with Southern ties, helping facilitate the Tigers move into the SEC. But since taking over as offensive coordinator in 2013, the Mizzou offense has been in steady decline, presumably bottoming out this year as the Tigers went more than three games without a touchdown.
Giving Henson more to worry about is the fact that others who might share the blame for the offensive debacle have much deeper ties to Pinkel and Mizzou. Quarterbacks coach Andy Hill, who is also the associate head coach, has accomplished so little working with the quarterbacks that his bio on the school website leads off by bragging about his development of Maty Mauk.
But Hill is the longest tenured assistant on staff, spending 19 years at Mizzou, his alma mater. He was also an outstanding wide receivers coach for more than a decade before sliding over to the quarterback mentor position. Hill helped turn players such as Maclin, Sean Coffey and Justin Gage into stars. His history in the program makes him seem more like a candidate for reassignment, perhaps back to wide receivers, than somebody likely to be terminated at season’s end.
Running backs coach Brian Jones is another potential scapegoat as the Tigers running game has been putrid as well. But Jones has worked with Pinkel since 1992 and has coached his running backs going all the way back to their days at Toledo. It also might be unfair to put too much blame on Jones, who developed Russell Hansbrough into a potential all-conference level ball carrier only to see him suffer setbacks from injuries this season.
It may not end up being an offseason of wholesale changes at Missouri, but something has to be done, and right now it doesn’t look good for Henson.
Shane Mettlen is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Texas A&M, Missouri and Alabama.
