HOOVER, Ala. - Do you remember your first public day on your job?
Maybe some jitters. Maybe some uneasy moments. Maybe it went swimmingly. Maybe it was a disaster.
Either way, it almost certainly was smoother than the past couple of days for first-year Missouri football coach Barry Odom, who made his league-wide public debut at SEC media days Wednesday.
Odom got word from Missouri athletic director Mack Rhoades on Tuesday evening that Rhoades was hitting the road after 15 months on the job to work at Baylor University. Yes, that Baylor University, with its avalanche of problems involving a football team that is part standout program, part state penitentiary.
It's fair to wonder what problems are bubbling at Missouri to make Rhoades jump into the mess at Baylor.
New president, new chancellor, new athletic director, all converging in the same short span since Odom was named the replacement for Gary Pinkel - the program's most successful coach ever - who left for health reasons last year.
Jay GreesonA lot of the university's overhaul is because of the disastrous protest last year that created a racial divide on campus. It was started in large part by a hunger strike by one graduate student who, after almost a decade on campus, believed the lack of insurance for grad assistants was racially motivated.
That movement picked up speed, especially after the Missouri football team became involved last year. It was a sign of solidarity, sure, from a program that believed it had a chance to help.
"Being a student-athlete, we have a platform, and if you believe in something you should take a stand for it," Missouri tight end Sean Culkin said.
But it also was terribly handled by the Missouri administration, including Pinkel, who caved to the players' threats of a possible boycott of a game against BYU in St. Louis.
The fallout has been harsh for the university. In addition to the overhaul in leadership positions, donations are down and new freshman enrollment is also way down. Whether that's from imagined problems or trust issues or somewhere in between is anyone's guess.
Either way, Odom hopes to avoid another potential boycott, no matter the cause.
"Everything that I want to do is make sure that I've got such a great relationship with our team that if there is an instance that comes up, that they feel comfortable coming in the door, walking in the door and let's sit down together as a team and as family and address those and find out," Odom said Wednesday.
"Let's get the facts before we make any movements or statements about anything. Let's make sure that we gather the facts and work together to come up with what is best not only for the individual, but the University of Missouri and our athletic program."
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It's also pretty clear the entire athletic department wants to put that event behind it as soon as possible.
To wit, the football program's involvement in the overdramatized protest won this year's ESPY award named after Stuart Scott.
(Say what you want about ESPN's annual awards, and it's more than likely true. That's because, well, you know, it's arguably a sham, especially after last year's honoring of Caitlyn Jenner for courage, which a) inherently insults those who are not rich and famous and supported in their attempts to publicly live with themselves, and b) is about as connected to sports as giving Carrot Top an ESPY because he used to be pretty good at kickball in middle school.)
Odom said he was not made aware of the award - and the national exposure that will come with it - and that's why no one currently involved with the program attended Wednesday night's event in L.A.
"The communication that they reached out to our athletic department, it wasn't done through me," Odom said of the ESPY protocol. " My singular focus is on the 2016 team, moving us forward as good as we could get. The communication went not through my office, it was worked on on last year's team, so they're - not anybody that is on our team this year would be there."
It's kind of hard to believe a production that big would not try to reach out to the current leaders in the program. Whatever.
Maybe it actually was lost in translation a bit. This is the ESPYs, which are more Oscar Madison than Oscar in the award show genre.
"The ESPYs are tonight? Wow," Culkin said when asked about the award. "I would have loved to have gone to that. It would have been cool."
Said Missouri defensive end Charles Harris: "I was elated (to hear about the ESPY). (Former Tigers player) Ian Simon texted me a long message last night talking about his experience (at the ceremonies) and how he wishes we were out there with him. I told him that he was the perfect man for the job to accept it since he was the head honcho behind it.
"That would be an experience we should all strive to have. But we all have football to worry about."
Ah, if it was only that simple for Odom and the Tigers and the university as a whole.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6343.