When Norm Stewart took over as the head coach at the University of Missouri before the 1967 season, he developed a whirling, pirouetting, duck-walking and otherwise perpetual motion coaching style with a little help from above.
In the rafters of Brewer Fieldhouse, that is, where Stewart likes to say the pigeons kept him alert and nimble.
No wonder similar images came to mind when he reflected on his career after learning of his alma mater’s plan to build and install a statue of him outside Mizzou Arena.
“The reality of a statue is, there’s going to be birds,” Stewart said with a laugh by telephone on Thursday.