COLUMBIA, Mo. -- There will be at least one Missouri alumnus in Mizzou Arena today who doesn't hold a grudge against Mike Anderson.
Anderson led Missouri to a 111-57 record in five seasons as the Tigers' coach, but he remains unpopular with many alumni and fans for resigning to take the Arkansas job in March of 2011.
"Sure, I understand why Mike did what he did," Missouri Coach Kim Anderson said. "I mean, he had the opportunity to go home and coach where his mentor did."
Mike Anderson was an Arkansas assistant for 17 seasons to Nolan Richardson. Kim Anderson was the Big Eight Co-Player of the Year as a Missouri senior during the 1976-77 season and played for Norm Stewart, then served as Stewart's assistant coach for nine years.
"I'm sure Arkansas is Mike's dream job, so I was happy for him when he got the chance to go there," Kim Anderson said. "I think I know how he feels, because Missouri is my dream job."
It's a dream Kim Anderson, 59, figured never would become a reality after first Quin Snyder, then Mike Anderson, then Frank Haith were hired instead of him to be the Tigers' coach.
Kim Anderson expected to end his coaching career at NCAA Division II Central Missouri State, where the previous 12 seasons he coached the Mules to a 274-94 record, capped by a national championship last season.
The fourth time turned out to be the charm, though, as Anderson returned to Missouri when Haith bolted for more job security at Tulsa with the Tigers losing their top three scorers in Jabari Brown, Jordan Clarkson and Earnest Ross after a 23-12 season ended with a second-round NIT loss.
"I thought that window to come back to Missouri was closed for me, no doubt," Kim Anderson said. "I didn't think I'd get this opportunity.
"Obviously, I'm grateful and honored to have it. A Division II coach doesn't get this opportunity very often."
So far this season has been a rough go for the Tigers (7-11, 1-4 SEC), who play Arkansas (14-4, 3-2) at 1 p.m. today.
Missouri is led by sophomores Johnathan Williams and Wes Clark and is relying heavily on five freshmen. Growing pains for an inexperienced team have been intensified by a nonconference schedule that includes losses to Arizona, Purdue, Oklahoma, Xavier, Illinois and Oklahoma State.
The opener, when Missouri-Kansas City beat the Tigers 69-61 at Mizzou Arena, was an indication of things to come.
Missouri beat LSU 74-67 at home in overtime to open SEC play but since then has lost four consecutive games, including 86-37 to No. 1 Kentucky at Rupp Arena.
"I'm not sure who's going to beat Kentucky," said Kim Anderson, whose Tigers have to play the Wildcats again next week. "They played outstanding, we played horrible, and when that happens good things don't occur.
"We've kind of tried to forget about that game, to be honest with you."
The four-game losing streak is the longest for Missouri since the 2006-07 season, which was Mike Anderson's first with the Tigers.
Missouri went to the NCAA Tournament in Mike Anderson's final three seasons, including a 31-7 record and run to the Elite Eight in 2009.
Mike Anderson has been loudly booed in his two visits as Arkansas' coach when the Tigers beat the Razorbacks. The crowd at Mizzou Arena today figures to greet him with more boos.
"To me, it shows they care about their program," Mike Anderson said. "When I got there, it was apathy. Now at least they show emotion about their program. That's something I can say we did. We brought excitement there. People care about basketball again."
Kim Anderson, a key player for Stewart in helping build Missouri's program, said he believes that after last season factors simply came together to make him the right hire for Missouri.
"I think Coach Haith left at the right time for me to be considered," he said. "We were coming off a national championship in Division II, and that was certainly a huge factor.
"I think there was a desire for a connection from the past, because we're going to play a style of basketball that's probably a little bit closer to what Coach Stewart did."
Mike Anderson and Kim Anderson have known each other since the 1980s, when they were assistant coaches.
"I think Mike's done a great job at Arkansas," Kim Anderson said. "He did a great job at Missouri. I've always considered him to be an outstanding coach."
Mike Anderson said he thinks highly of Kim Anderson as a person and coach.
"Kim is a class guy," Anderson said. "He'll have that program back where it was, I have no doubt about it."
Sports on 01/24/2015