Mizzou on the move in Big 12

There's another big dog on the Big 12 North block.

Or more precisely, a big cat.

Nebraska enjoyed a nice rebound in 2008-09 from its lowest finish ever the previous year in the Big 12 composite all-sports standings, compiled by The World-Herald.

But Missouri is experiencing an athletic renaissance. Tiger teams in the past year earned three Big 12 postseason crowns — in soccer, men's basketball and softball. This after the school failed for 11 years to win a single league title.

Mizzou represented the North in the league's football championship game for the second straight year and beat NU last fall in Lincoln for the first time in 30 years.

MU made the Elite Eight in men's hoops, reached the Women's College World Series in softball and earned a seventh straight NCAA postseason baseball bid — a streak that trails only Texas among league schools.

Missouri's Mark Ellis even won the individual NCAA heavyweight title in wrestling, a sport recently more forgotten in Columbia than that 11-win football season of 1960.

Yes, Mizzou poses a legitimate threat to Nebraska's long-held position as the standard-bearer for athletic success in the Big 12 North Division.

MU tied Texas A&M for second place with 155 points in the latest edition of the composite standings. Texas won for the eighth straight year with 168 points.

Nebraska finished fourth at 143, ahead of Oklahoma but lodged firmly out of the North Division lead for just the second time in 13 years of Big 12 competition.

Missouri Athletic Director Mike Alden recently described the past year as his most rewarding in 11 years at the school.

“All the things we've accomplished this last year,” Alden told the Kansas City Star, “I see more sunny days ahead.”

Mizzou does appear on solid ground for the long term. Football coach Gary Pinkel has reworked his image with 22 wins in the past two seasons, capped by wins in the Cotton and Alamo Bowls. Basketball coach Mike Anderson agreed to a seven-year contract extension in March.

Nebraska, interestingly, is not concerned, according to Marc Boehm, NU executive associate athletic director.

“There are always ups and always downs, but the one constant for Nebraska is that we've stayed there at or near the top,” Boehm said. “We can't worry about other programs. We've got to take things that are here and go to a different level. If we worry about us, winning will take care of itself.”

The Huskers have won 66 Big 12 titles — regular season and postseason — since 1996. Missouri has five.

“Nebraska has been the standard,” Boehm said. “A lot of schools have set benchmarks and said, ‘Hey we want to be like that.'”

He acknowledges that others have done well at emulating Nebraska, especially Mizzou — second to NU historically among Big 12 North schools in the composite standings.

Nebraska has finished first or second league-wide in nine of 13 years since the formation of the Big 12. The 2008-09 NU total was one point below its previous five-year average.

Schools are given 12 points for a first-place finish, 11 for second and so on. Five bonus points are awarded to the winners of six postseason events.

Intentionally or not, Missouri has followed the Nebraska model for consistency. Like the Huskers during their best years, Mizzou found success across the board when its football program thrived.

“Everything feeds on football,” Boehm said, “When football does great, you see all the rest of our athletic programs step it up. For us, it's about family. And you're seeing more and more of that, especially in the past year under coach Osborne.”

Tom Osborne, the second-year Nebraska athletic director and former football coach of 25 years, has installed a strategic plan to keep the Huskers competitive in the Big 12.

Each program is expected to compete in the upper half of the conference annually and contend at least every four years for a league title.

Sounds simple. Wasn't that understood?

“Yes,” Boehm said. “But now it's in black and white.”

Contact the writer:

402-473-9587, mitch.sherman@owh.com