Before Thursday, the University of Missouri’s football team had a lot to look forward to. After finishing 2018 at 8–5 (and just a few bad plays away from 10–3), coach Barry Odom seemed settled into his role. The Tigers had a brutal schedule last fall; in 2019, it looks like one of the SEC’s more manageable slates. And in December, the team lured Kelly Bryant, the sought-after Clemson transfer, to suit up as its quarterback come September.
But by late Thursday morning, none of that seemed to matter. That’s when the NCAA released its sanctions related to an investigation into one Missouri tutor who completed coursework for 12 athletes in 2015 and ’16—and when maybe the worst month on record for football fans in the Show Me State got even more miserable.