Two married couples run the Missouri volleyball team, and they couldn’t do it without each other. But the coaches’ connections began far before they arrived at Mizzou.
From 1994 to 1999, Wayne and Susan Kreklow served as co-head coaches for the men's and women’s volleyball teams at Columbia College. On the women’s side, they found significant success as they claimed back-to-back coach of the year awards and national titles. On that team was none other than the 1999 NAIA National Player of the Year, Deng Yang.
In a season that began with a record-breaking streak, the Missouri women’s basketball team set its bar to a new height from the beginning. And they lived up to it, almost.
Though there were records broken, awards given out and many games won, the Tigers’ 2015-16 regular season was not all sugar and spice and everything nice. The season was defined by a legendary start, one freshman phenom and the peaking performance at the end that was almost just right.
A LUCKY 13
For the first time in the program’s history, the Tigers kicked off the season with a 13-0 start: a perfect non conference schedule.
Something was different at the Oct. 15 Missouri men’s basketball media session. When you looked over at coach Kim Anderson, the change was clear.
There, past his head, in black and gold letters, was a phrase already spreading on social media: “#RallyForRhyan.”
With the letters behind him, Anderson publically addressed the team tragedy in person for the first time. Rhyan is Rhyan Loos, the daughter of assistant coach Brad Loos. The rally is for her fight against neuroblastoma.
The ‘C’ word.
As people filed into the Walt Disney Ballroom for Tyler Ford’s keynote speech on Nov. 9, the Wednesday after Election Day, the room felt heavy. It was difficult to spot a smile.
The audience was set to hear the writer, public speaker and media personality speak behind a podium, but the weight of the evening brought a new setup. What was originally planned as a lecture-style seminar turned into an open group discussion. The crowd helped transform rows of chairs into an extended oval.