‘No Opportunity Wasted’: Missouri Baseball’s New Mindset for this Season
An acronym helped bring Missouri football all the way to being Cotton Bowl champions. That team credited it to building its winning mindset. “Something to Prove” was what grounded the Tigers and drove the players during their successful season.
The wrestling team’s mantra “Expect to Win” displays the desire and mindset for the season. It appears to be working out pretty well as Missouri has lost only twice so far and is ranked as one of the best teams in the country.
Missouri’s baseball team is trying to build its own mindset of “No Opportunity Wasted” or abbreviated as NOW.
“We constantly fall victim to what everybody else expects we can or can't do," Missouri head coach Kerrick Jackson said. "We're not supposed to be the best because we're the farthest team north in the SEC, we don't have the best stadium and what I've told our guys is that what you have is opportunity. Either you relish in the opportunity that you have or don't.”
Missouri has a reputation, but it’s unfortunately not a good one. The Tigers are known for their losing record of seasons past, for having one of the older and more run-down stadiums in their conference. But, they are trying to get past their reputation and build a new one. A better one. A winning one.
"I think we're gonna be a lot faster and cause a lot more havoc around the baseball field," Missouri veteran utility man Trevor Austin said.
The Tigers have already gotten a jump on their mantra in the offseason and have gotten back to the basics. They are taking every opportunity that they can to improve and Jackson has already been impressed with the growth they made between last season and now. But with over half of the roster being new to the Missouri team, the players would have to learn to grow and improve together if they wanted to have a winning season.
"This offseason has been great chemistry-wise," Austin said. "It's been great, being able to get on the field and play the game of baseball and connect in that way."
A new but old mindset brought by Jackson
Long time Tigers fans might be having deja vu with Jackson. This familiar face served as an assistant coach from 2011-2015, when they had two seasons of winning baseball, including a Big 12 title in 2012. He is looking to bring back some of the old Mizzou toughness, but with a mix of what he learned in the places between his two trips to Columbia.
"[I'm] trying to get these guys to understand that [old Mizzou tradition is] what this place was built on and it wasn't built on the idea of how you were ranked in 'Perfect Game' or what people thought of you as a prospect, it was gritty guys, that had a chip on their shoulder, that took the idea of being the disadvantaged team to their heart and went out and played to the best of their ability," Jackson said.
Jackson was just barely able to say he came away with a winning record last season with Memphis. But that was a bigger deal than it seems, it was the first winning season in six years. He also led a nine-win Southern University team to 32 wins and a conference championship the following season. The new mantra for the Tigers was proposed to the coaching staff by Jackson to show how he wants to operate this season in order to bring this success to Missouri and to show his hopes for his players.
"I'm trying to get them to understand that our success is going to be based on the idea of us playing fundamentally sound," Jackson said. "We are just really, really emphasizing the basics and just going out there and handling what we can handle."
While Missouri baseball had a better season than nine wins last year — much better, in fact, as its coming off a winning season — the players are still hoping that Jackson can do the same for them.
"Kerrick is a man of his word," Missouri pitcher Xavier Lovett said. "Not only does he speak the good word, but he follows it up with his actions."
Despite the large number of roster turnover, Missouri gained a lot of talent to go with the new coach. Missouri pitcher Xavier Lovett, outfielder RJ Jimerson and infielder/outfielder Cameron Benson have much experience with Jackson after spending last season under him. These players made up a chunk of Memphis' talent and racked up quite a bit of playing time under his leadership and got used to Jackson's mentality.
"To be successful at this level, you have to instill in your team a competitiveness that is far beyond your opponents," assistant coach Tim Jamieson said.
This offseason Jackson didn't just work on improving his players before the start of the new season, but their mindset as well. The Tigers will find out in their efforts paid off during their season opener in California against Cal Poly.
"Everyday is a clean slate," assistant coach Bryson LeBlanc said. "We have an opportunity to show up and create what we want to create here."
Ironically, this isn't Jackson first season opener in his career against Cal Poly, despite the fact that the two programs have only faced off one time before. The Tigers started their 2011 season against the Mustangs, which was Jacksons first season as assistant coach. Missouri earned the win back in 2011 and will hope for a repeat to start the season this year.
