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Well you came to the right place to ask
Posted on: December 22, 2016 at 14:33:50 CT
FIJItiger MU
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He was taking over from Sparky Stalcup, who after a long and mostly successful career leading MU finished with a then program record 16 losses and a tie for last place in conference in his final season.
His first public statements on his new job were that the NCAA might put MU on probation within the next week, and added among things as coaches they could do to correct issues would be efforts towards instilling in players "going to church every Sunday as a habit." He brought an exciting and fast paced brand of basketball to MU, and while his initial season saw only a 1 game improvement on his predecessor the following 2 seasons were both over .500, the first such above .500 examples for the Tigers in the prior 8 years. Mississippi State offered Vanatta their head coaching position in an attempt to lure him away from MU, but he withdrew his name from consideration and remained in Columbia. And then things fell completely apart.
In 1965-66, Vannata fielded an MU team built around the talents of Ron Coleman, who avged 21.3 ppg that season:
http://tigerboard.com/boards/view.php?message=11079598
But that is pretty much it. Senior Charlie Rudd, a 6 foot even guard, jumped center on a team that had no players taller than 6'5. Only 2 Tigers would avg > 7 ppg for a team that lost by an avg of 15 ppg over the course of the season, thanks to 37.3% shooting from the field. The Tigers were out-rebounded by more than 12 a game. Their 3 total wins on the season came against Rice (who went 1-22 that year), and overtime victory in the Big 8 holiday tourney against OSU (who went 4-21 that year), and a 1 point win on a 20 foot buzzer beater against Colorado (who also was below .500 that year). And that is it for the whole season, a 3-21 record with three of the weakest wins you can imagine. In fact, in one loss tiny Loyola Chicago outrebounded the Tiger 58-26 en route to scoring 108 points against us. The Tiger's lost at home to something called the Pamex Oilers. In my estimation, the worst Tiger team ever. It was the equivalent of fielding a junior varsity squad.
Vanatta stated: "I have no plans to retire from the coaching profession this year. None whatsoever. My only disappointment has been in not being able to win more games at Missouri, and I sincerely believe nobody is to blame but myself. I have never been in worse shape for material. I've simply got to get some recruits for next season." So he set about replenishing the talent level for 1966-67.
Typically when you hear 'worst team in the last 50 years', that reference is to the 1966-67 MU team coached by Vanatta. And with good reason, as they finished 3-22 on the year and were atrocious and boast both the worst winning % in program history as well as the most single season losses. However, what is not conveyed in those totals is that in addition to beating Arkansas, Detroit, and Oklahoma State that season the Tigers took 4 other programs to overtime. There were no Lipscomb's, Elon's, and SEMO's in those days like this season on the schedule to amass wins against, and they narrowly missed accumulating 7 wins if those overtime losses broke the other way.
Ron Coleman returned. He also added Gene Jones from the JUCO ranks (who would secure the 2nd highest individual game rebounding mark in program history of 26 against Rutgers that year and later become the first superstar of the Norm Stewart era):
http://tigerboard.com/boards/view.php?message=10904034
He added the program's first 7' in Booker Brown (the JUCO grabbed 24 rebounds that season in the win over Detroit)
He added a JUCO impact player from St. Louis in Tom Johnson (who would avg 12.8 ppg and 7.3 rebounds on the season). Also that was in the era when freshman were ineligible for varsity, and Vanatta had brought in the bruising Don Tomlinson for the future:
http://tigerboard.com/boards/view.php?message=11086030
The Tigers would start out the year 2-2, before both Booker Brown and Gene Jones would be declared ineligible and lost for the season. The Tigers went into a tailspin, but even amid that an offer came to Vanatta to become both the coach and general manager of an ABA team which he declined and remained in the college ranks. After losing 8 straight games, Vanatta announced he would retire from coaching after the Tiger's last game of the year even though he was only 48 years old. Said Vanatta, "I know it may sound strange when I say that the record of the past two years has in no way influenced this decision. Even if we had Big 8 championship teams this season and last, my decision would still have been the same." AD Don Faurot confirmed that he was under no pressure to resign and the decision was entirely Vanatta's. At the end of the year, he would step aside and the MU job would go to a former Tiger playing great Norm Stewart to try and rebuild.
Vanatta later served as athletic director at Oral Roberts University, commissioner of the Ohio Valley Conference, commissioner of the Atlantic Sun Conference, executive director of the Independence Bowl, athletic director at Louisiana Tech University, commissioner of the Sunshine State Conference, president of the NCAA Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association, and associate athletic director at Florida Atlantic University.
Edited by FIJItiger at 14:37:38 on 12/22/16
His first public statements on his new job were that the NCAA might put MU on probation within the next week, and added among things as coaches they could do to correct issues would be efforts towards instilling in players "going to church every Sunday as a habit." He brought an exciting and fast paced brand of basketball to MU, and while his initial season saw only a 1 game improvement on his predecessor the following 2 seasons were both over .500, the first such above .500 examples for the Tigers in the prior 8 years. Mississippi State offered Vanatta their head coaching position in an attempt to lure him away from MU, but he withdrew his name from consideration and remained in Columbia. And then things fell completely apart.
In 1965-66, Vannata fielded an MU team built around the talents of Ron Coleman, who avged 21.3 ppg that season:
http://tigerboard.com/boards/view.php?message=11079598
But that is pretty much it. Senior Charlie Rudd, a 6 foot even guard, jumped center on a team that had no players taller than 6'5. Only 2 Tigers would avg > 7 ppg for a team that lost by an avg of 15 ppg over the course of the season, thanks to 37.3% shooting from the field. The Tigers were out-rebounded by more than 12 a game. Their 3 total wins on the season came against Rice (who went 1-22 that year), and overtime victory in the Big 8 holiday tourney against OSU (who went 4-21 that year), and a 1 point win on a 20 foot buzzer beater against Colorado (who also was below .500 that year). And that is it for the whole season, a 3-21 record with three of the weakest wins you can imagine. In fact, in one loss tiny Loyola Chicago outrebounded the Tiger 58-26 en route to scoring 108 points against us. The Tiger's lost at home to something called the Pamex Oilers. In my estimation, the worst Tiger team ever. It was the equivalent of fielding a junior varsity squad.
Vanatta stated: "I have no plans to retire from the coaching profession this year. None whatsoever. My only disappointment has been in not being able to win more games at Missouri, and I sincerely believe nobody is to blame but myself. I have never been in worse shape for material. I've simply got to get some recruits for next season." So he set about replenishing the talent level for 1966-67.
Typically when you hear 'worst team in the last 50 years', that reference is to the 1966-67 MU team coached by Vanatta. And with good reason, as they finished 3-22 on the year and were atrocious and boast both the worst winning % in program history as well as the most single season losses. However, what is not conveyed in those totals is that in addition to beating Arkansas, Detroit, and Oklahoma State that season the Tigers took 4 other programs to overtime. There were no Lipscomb's, Elon's, and SEMO's in those days like this season on the schedule to amass wins against, and they narrowly missed accumulating 7 wins if those overtime losses broke the other way.
Ron Coleman returned. He also added Gene Jones from the JUCO ranks (who would secure the 2nd highest individual game rebounding mark in program history of 26 against Rutgers that year and later become the first superstar of the Norm Stewart era):
http://tigerboard.com/boards/view.php?message=10904034
He added the program's first 7' in Booker Brown (the JUCO grabbed 24 rebounds that season in the win over Detroit)
He added a JUCO impact player from St. Louis in Tom Johnson (who would avg 12.8 ppg and 7.3 rebounds on the season). Also that was in the era when freshman were ineligible for varsity, and Vanatta had brought in the bruising Don Tomlinson for the future:
http://tigerboard.com/boards/view.php?message=11086030
The Tigers would start out the year 2-2, before both Booker Brown and Gene Jones would be declared ineligible and lost for the season. The Tigers went into a tailspin, but even amid that an offer came to Vanatta to become both the coach and general manager of an ABA team which he declined and remained in the college ranks. After losing 8 straight games, Vanatta announced he would retire from coaching after the Tiger's last game of the year even though he was only 48 years old. Said Vanatta, "I know it may sound strange when I say that the record of the past two years has in no way influenced this decision. Even if we had Big 8 championship teams this season and last, my decision would still have been the same." AD Don Faurot confirmed that he was under no pressure to resign and the decision was entirely Vanatta's. At the end of the year, he would step aside and the MU job would go to a former Tiger playing great Norm Stewart to try and rebuild.
Vanatta later served as athletic director at Oral Roberts University, commissioner of the Ohio Valley Conference, commissioner of the Atlantic Sun Conference, executive director of the Independence Bowl, athletic director at Louisiana Tech University, commissioner of the Sunshine State Conference, president of the NCAA Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association, and associate athletic director at Florida Atlantic University.
Edited by FIJItiger at 14:37:38 on 12/22/16
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RE: He was a very good D2 coach. He's not a very good D1 coach. - NoBeaksNoNubs STL - 12/22 14:48:08Well you came to the right place to ask - FIJItiger MU - 12/22 14:33:50