An Inside the Family Hire is Exactly What Mizzou Needed
Mizzou has its new director of athletics, and he’s a familiar face that Tiger fans should be pleased to have back in the fold.
By now, you’ve all read up on Laird Veatch and his resume, so I won’t be rehashing a bunch of those facts and figures. I did want to share my perspective on the search process that Mizzou just went through, and give a little insight into the guy who’s “coming home,” because I had the privilege of knowing him well.
I guess I should start with the disclaimer that I am a biased party here. I worked with Laird during his first tour of duty at Mizzou (1997-2002) and got to know him on a social level. We worked our 60-hour weeks in close proximity and then hung out with our teammates to have some fun (in our pre-children days) in a group that included Veatch and current sitting ADs Ross Bjork (Ohio State), Mark Alnutt (Buffalo), Doug Gillin (Appalachian State) and Bryan Maggard (Louisiana), among many others.
With that being said, I suppose it’s not going to be a surprise that I’m a big fan of Laird and think this is a great move for Mizzou. He’s a confident yet humble person who has a wealth of varied experiences and roles over his career that have helped form his leadership style. Veatch has trained under some titans in the industry, both as a football player under legendary coach Bill Snyder at Kansas State and under numerous accomplished athletic directors as he came up through the business. Anyone who earned team captain status under Bill Snyder has my admiration.
Back in the day, us Mizzou types always gave Laird grief about being a Wildcat, but that was always just to put him in his place, like you do with your co-workers that you’re friends with. I always admired the fact that he was a good sport and could take it as well as he could dish it out. After all, you can’t blame a kid for where he grew up, no matter how Godforsaken the state might be— it’s his parent’s fault there, right?
Laird has the personality and the interpersonal skills to be a great leader at Mizzou. I feel like he’s got broad based experience that has earned him respect that should allow him to work well with the Board of Curators, President Mun Choi, and Football Coach Eliah Drinkwitz. I don’t know if Drink and Veatch have prior knowledge of each other, but I do believe that any football coach appreciates having an AD who played the game at a very high level. Having been here before and having the success he did running the Tiger Scholarship Fund gives Laird a great base to work from as he settles into his new role.
More about Laird: he’s down to earth, focused, and is someone who is adaptable – just look at all the varied roles he’s held over the course of his lengthy career. He’s also about as genuinely nice of a person as you could want. But just because he’s quite affable, don’t take that as softness — he’s got dog in him — I know that from our time together. I think you have to work to get on his bad side, but it’s definitely a place I wouldn’t want to be. I know he’s a hell of a competitor, not only from his football days, but from the days when we would play driveway hoops with athletic department staffers (back in my youth when I could actually play basketball and NOT tear a random ligament in my body). Laird and I made a pretty mean 2-man team. We weren’t exactly sharp shooters, but nobody pushed us big guys around, that’s for sure!
Laird Veatch to Missouri? https://t.co/ILx3i3lZUD pic.twitter.com/ywei4yS68m
— The Kansas State Fan (@Thekstatefan) April 22, 2024
Veatch is coming into a department that is quite different from his first stint here. Remember, when he came to Mizzou in 1997, the athletic department budget hovered around $13 million. Now, it’s around $150 at last report. Mizzou, thanks to the vision of one of his mentors, Mike Alden, is now in the most prolific conference in the nation and is poised to weather whatever storms come down the pike related to the collegiate landscape shift.
I’m pleased and honestly proud to have someone from “inside the family” get the shot to run the show. I feel like we picked someone who wants to be here at Mizzou. Quite honestly, let’s face it, going outside of the family hasn’t exactly worked in Columbia recently.
Since Alden retired in January of 2015 after almost 18 years at the helm, Mizzou is on its fourth AD in 10 years. It is very challenging for a department to maintain momentum and grow in a healthy and sustainable manner when there’s so much turnover. I harken back to Gary Pinkel and how he built his football program at Mizzou – stability with his staff was an underrated key to the success they had. Keeping the same assistants for his first eight full seasons no doubt was critical to that.
I’m so happy for Laird and his wife Brandy and their children. I’m also really happy for Mike Alden, because this is a direct reflection of his legacy. What’s really impressive is the plethora of quality candidates from the Alden tree who could have been selected other than Veatch.
I read a piece in the Memphis Commercial Appeal that listed nine top options to replace Veatch at Memphis. Two of them are from the Alden tree – Alnutt and Maggard. If one of those two were selected at Memphis, that would be another feather in Alden’s cap, having a protégé replace another protégé.
A few quick thoughts about the search process itself.
During the search I sensed some consternation among Tiger fans that if Laird was the pick, that Mizzou could eventually lose him to his alma mater at some point. First, let’s allow the man to get his wardrobe adjusted to black and gold before we start panicking about him leaving. The allure of home is no doubt a strong pull, but K-State had the chance to hire him before as Athletic Director and didn’t scoop him up, so that’s their loss. Maybe most importantly, while things seem to be going well in Manhattan (tip of the cap to ya, Willie the Wildcat), Mizzou’s future is so much more secure being in the SEC as opposed to the Big 12. Yes, home means something, but I don’t see someone uprooting to go to a less stable situation. (Checks notes about where two previous ADs left Mizzou for and sighs).
How about the search firm? I’ve never been a fan of the concept of paying six figures for this type of hire, especially when you end up hiring someone who you knew wanted the job from the start. However, you have to realize that it’s how the business works, and until search firms aren’t part of the equation, Mizzou is no different than any Power 5 school – you utilize their services to conduct a thorough and protected process.
I’ve seen some critique of the Board for taking nine weeks to make this hire, but I’ll push back a little there. What’s going on at this time of the year where the department can’t operate without a permanent AD? The winter and spring sports still did their thing no matter who was in the AD chair. Mizzou still announced its much-anticipated stadium plans and that was important to get in place before bringing in the new director.
Additionally, by all accounts, Marcy Girton was doing a good job in her role as interim director. I’m fine with the Board seeking out all interested parties and conducting a thorough process to find the right person for the job. The last three AD hires here moved pretty quickly, remember. A little patience was the right call this time around.
I know Mizzou isn’t technically Laird Veatch’s home, but forget that. He’s one of ours, and I for one am glad he’s back. Here’s to a long run of success as a Tiger to Laird, his wife Brandy and their family!