Larry Smith

When Larry Smith took Missouri to the 1997 Holiday Bowl, he became one of just four coaches in NCAA history to take four different teams to bowl games.

His other head coaching opportunities included Tulane, Arizona and USC, where he took the Trojans to three consecutive Rose Bowls and finished ranked in the Top 20 of the final AP poll in his first four seasons.

In Columbia, Smith orchestrated the Tigers’ first winning season since 1983, leading the team to a 7-5 record in ’97. He guided an 8-4 season in 1998, the first time Missouri reached consecutive bowls since 1980-81, and earned a new five-year contract.

But after 4-7 and 3-8 seasons in ’99 and ’00, the team fired Smith, who died of chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2008.