As Missouri fires Odom after win over Hogs, bar gets higher for coaches

Unless there’s something we don’t know, Barry Odom leading Missouri to a double-digit road win over Arkansas on Saturday wasn’t enough to keep his job in a 6-6 year.

It was reported by PowerMizzou.com this morning that Odom is out after four seasons and a 25-25 record.

On Saturday in Little Rock, the Tigers were able to pull out a 24-10 win over the Razorbacks with their backup to the backup quarterback. The Hogs were on their fifth starting quarterback this season.

The game was not an artistic masterpiece on either side.

But this IS proof the bar is getting higher for coaches in the SEC … and there’s a lot of buyout money being paid all over college football.

Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek has been in a coaching search since early in November so it’s reasonable to think he has at least identified the folks he wants and the wheels are turning on that hiring.

But as the dominoes start to fall now around the SEC, will there be other coaches?

There is always the speculation about Gus Malzahn’s status at Auburn and some feel if he doesn’t beat Alabama at home Saturday they might bite the bullet and dump him.

Matt Luke isn’t exactly inspiring confidence these days with Ole Miss and Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead’s status is going to be up in the air until Rutgers settles the ongoing flirtation with Greg Schiano.

All of this affects how things shake out at Arkansas if a deal is not done. Maybe not at the top spot, but most of these things usually have about as much to do with the staff availability a new coach wants to bring to a situation.

And, yes, coaches have waited for other opportunities because it wasn’t a good fit for the staff he wants to put together.

Wth the regular seasons ending this weekend, that’s going to start things rolling, probably on Sunday. Coaches in championship games will put everything off on their agents during that week.

But it is clear that just winning half your games isn’t going to cut it any more unless you’re at Vanderbilt where they appear perfectly happy getting a seven-win season every three or four years.

Get ready for an interesting few days.