Larry Smith fired as Missouri football coach

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) _ Larry Smith, who followed two bowl seasons with two losing seasons, was fired Saturday night after seven seasons as the Tigers' head coach. <br><br>Missouri director of athletics

Monday, November 20th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) _ Larry Smith, who followed two bowl seasons with two losing seasons, was fired Saturday night after seven seasons as the Tigers' head coach.

Missouri director of athletics Mike Alden announced the decision Sunday, one day after the Tigers' 28-24 home loss to Kansas State ended a 3-8 season and the second consecutive losing year in Columbia. It was the latest in a series of embarrassing setbacks for Missouri, including losses this year to Clemson (62-9), Texas (47-12) and rival Kansas (38-17).

``We believe that the University of Missouri's athletics program, football being one part of the program, should be and can be one of the top three or four programs in this conference,'' Alden said. ``That's what we're looking to try and do.''

Smith, 61, who had three years to go on his contract, finished his career at Missouri with a 33-46-1 record. His career record is 143-126-7 in 24 seasons, with previous stops at Tulane, Arizona and Southern California.

Alden said he met with Smith at 8 p.m. Saturday and informed him he planned to make a coaching change. Smith, given the chance to retire or resign, refused and was then fired.

In a statement released by the school Sunday, Smith said he was given no reasons why his contract was terminated.

``I am very proud of what our program has accomplished these past seven years,'' Smith said. ``It appears that what counts to this administration is only winning and losing.''

Speaking Sunday at the school's football complex, Alden said Smith was removed for four reasons: the team's losing record, particularly in the last two years (7-15); the team not being competitive during that time; deficiencies in players' personal development; and a poor recruiting effort after the two bowl seasons.

``Our focus has got to continue to be to lock down the state of Missouri, relative to the top scholars and the top scholar athletes,'' Alden said.

Hired as the school's 30th football coach in December 1993, Smith succeeded for a time in reviving a once-proud program. In 1997, after 13 consecutive losing seasons at Missouri, Smith guided the Tigers to a 7-5 record and the Holiday Bowl, and was named AP Big 12 coach of the year.

The next season, Missouri beat West Virginia in the Insight.com Bowl, finishing the year with an 8-4 record _ the Tigers' first bowl win since the 1981 Tangerine Bowl. The consecutive bowl trips were the first for Missouri since 1980-81.

Those wins made Smith one of only four coaches to take four different teams to a bowl game.

But the two stars of the bowl teams, quarterback Corby Jones and running back Devin West, graduated after the 1998 season and Smith was never able to find adequate replacements.

Jones, who said he came to Alden's press conference to show support for Smith, said the announcement was ``tough to see.''

``Great man, great football coach,'' Jones said. ``It's tough. Sometimes that's the business. You can't put your finger on the problem, and I definitely don't think it's him.''

Missouri stumbled to 4-7 in 1999 after quarterback Kirk Farmer broke his leg in mid-season. The Tigers lost six of their last seven, including ugly losses to Oklahoma (37-0), Texas A&M (51-14) and Kansas State (66-0).

Last season's collapse prompted Smith to scrap the tailback- and option-oriented offense and hire a new offensive coordinator, Bill Cubit, to run a wide-open passing attack.

But Farmer was lost again to injury after breaking his left collarbone against Nebraska, leaving the offense to redshirt freshman Darius Outlaw.

Missouri lost all five games it played this year against Top 25 teams and managed victories only over Oklahoma State and Baylor _ the Big 12's worst teams _ and Division I-AA Western Illinois. Smith was 1-27 against Top 25 teams while at Missouri.

Alden said a search for a coach would begin immediately and that he hoped to fill the position in the next two to three weeks. None of the current assistant coaches are serious candidates for the job, although Alden said they are welcome to express an interest.

Head coaching or coordinator experience isn't necessarily required, Alden said, although any coach would be expected to leave his current job immediately _ even if that means missing a bowl appearence.

``When a person is committed to the University of Missouri, they are commited to Missouri,'' Alden said. ``Not to the other place until such time as they feel like coming here.''

Speculation in Columbia has Florida State offensive coach Mark Richt, Texas Christian coach Dennis Franchione and Southern Florida coach Jim Leavitt at the top of Alden's list.

Several players, including Outlaw and Bronco Nagurski award finalist Justin Smith, lobbied after the Kansas State loss for Smith to remain. Justin Smith said earlier in the week he'd turn pro if Larry Smith were fired, but softened that stance Saturday.

``I've still got to weigh my options, but that would be a major factor,'' Justin Smith said. ``If he left, I'd really have to consider leaving.''