Image credit:
Missouri head coach Kerrick Jackson (Photo courtesy of Thomas Raymond/Mizzou Athletics)

Kerrick Jackson didn’t duck the reality of the moment.

He didn’t point to Missouri’s meager budget, outdated facilities or the resource chasm that separates it from the rest of the Southeastern Conference—even if he would’ve been well within his rights to do so.

Instead, after Tuesday morning’s season-ending 4-1 loss to Alabama in the opening round of the SEC Tournament, the second-year Tigers coach made clear that his team’s last-place finish was his responsibility.

“Ultimately, it’s on me,” he said bluntly. “The one thing that as I look back on the year and reflect, the team should reflect who I am as an individual and how I go about my business, and there wasn’t enough of that.”

This wasn’t postgame deflection or hollow contrition. Jackson has always been direct, always embraced accountability. It’s part of why Missouri hired him in the first place, hoping he could ignite a long-stalled engine.

That turnaround hasn’t come—at least not yet. And few coaches in college baseball face a steeper climb.

Missouri hasn’t reached the NCAA Tournament since 2010 and has just one super regional appearance in its Division I history. Since joining the SEC in 2013, the Tigers have finished .500 or better in conference play only once. The Big 12 was more forgiving. But there’s no going back now.

In a league defined by superlatives—biggest crowds, deepest pockets, flashiest facilities—Missouri remains the outlier. Not because it wants to be. Not because it’s unwilling to try. But because the cold truth is it lacks what most others in the SEC take for granted: real, sustainable resources.

It’s no excuse. Just reality.

“We have not necessarily invested to the level that we need to, candidly,” athletic director Laird Veatch acknowledged publicly earlier this month.

While other SEC programs are spending millions to construct rosters brimming with future MLB talent, the Tigers operate without those advantages. It’s a major handicap in a sport propelled by deep pockets. 

They play in one of the conference’s smallest stadiums, with one of its smallest budgets and a limited support staff. Unsurprisingly, the program has struggled mightily to stay afloat in the nation’s most demanding baseball league.

That disparity came into full focus in 2025, a season that ended with Missouri at 16-39 overall and just 3-27 in SEC play. It was a brutal campaign by any measure, punctuated by a quiet, familiar exit in Hoover. Missouri didn’t just finish last—it finished historically last, winning the fewest amount of conference games in the SEC’s 30-game era.

“We’re an immature baseball club,” Jackson said Tuesday. “And I don’t mean that disrespectfully. It’s just the reality of what it is.”

Jackson understands the uphill nature of his current job and believes his experiences in other Division I rebuilds will ultimately help him succeed. 

He knows that competing in the SEC without the same financial backing or infrastructure is like entering a Formula 1 race in a pickup. But he also knows that dwelling on disadvantages won’t move the program forward. Progress, as he sees it, starts with controlling what he can and outworking everyone else.

So for all the structural drawbacks and on-field struggles, Jackson isn’t waving a white flag. Instead, he’s leaning fully into the challenge, even if that sometimes feels unfair.

“We got to get it done regardless,” Jackson told Baseball America. “Whatever [Missouri’s athletic department] can do to assist us is phenomenal but, in the meantime, I need to keep grinding and make sure we get it done regardless of the resources we have.”

One resource Jackson knows he can count on is time. His relationship with Veatch, who hired him at Memphis in 2023, has given him that increasingly rare commodity in college athletics.

“It’s huge because I’m not looking over my shoulder,” Jackson said. “When [Veatch] comes in, I know he’s a baseball guy. I was fortunate that the guy who hired me at Memphis got the job here. He knows what I’m capable of. That’s why he hired me at Memphis. I can do the same thing here.”

Still, there’s no illusion about what that will take, especially in this league. Jackson is acutely aware of Missouri’s current place in the SEC pecking order and knows just how different things are in Columbia, where there’s less tradition, less money, less built-in support. 

But that hasn’t changed his vision.

“I know this place,” he said. “I know where we’re different than the rest of the SEC. I know we have some disadvantages. That doesn’t stop me from wanting us to be one of the top programs in the country but, more importantly, to put us in position to improve and succeed.”

And despite a season that ended with just three SEC wins and more questions than answers, Jackson sees the challenge as fertile ground—not a death sentence.

“What I like about adversity is, it becomes great if you learn from it and move forward from it,” he said.

Growth won’t come overnight. But, the way Jackson sees it, acknowledging the issues is a start. And at Missouri—a place where reaching the postseason has long felt aspirational rather than expected—that start matters. 

Especially if it comes with the belief—however stubborn or unorthodox—that the climb is worth it.

“As we’re the biggest story for how bad we are this year,” Jackson said, “I promise you, we’ll be the biggest story for how good we’re going to be next year.”

Senators grilled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday over her management of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and how the agency — which President Donald Trump has sought to dismantle — is responding to a series of devastating storms across the southern United States. 

During a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) asked Noem what she would do about pending federal disaster declaration requests for the state of Missouri — which has been wracked by a series of deadly tornadoes — that have not been approved by the president. Mississippi, which is still recovering from extreme weather events in March, is also waiting for approval on months-old disaster relief declarations. 

“The state has pending three requests for major disaster declarations from earlier storms we’ve lost over a dozen people. Well, actually, if you count the folks we lost just on Friday, we’ve lost almost 20 people now in major storms just in the last two months in Missouri,” Hawley said. 

“Will you commit to helping, for those three major disaster declaration requests that are pending, will you expedite those, Secretary Noem, and get those in front of the president, get those approved?” Hawley asked. “We are desperate for the assistance in Missouri.” 

Noem replied that she would make sure the applications were put before Trump as soon as possible, and agreed to expedite individual assistance for qualified Missourians impacted by the recent storms. 

A prominent Republican lawmaker like Hawley begging a Republican administration to approve emergency aid for a Republican state is a sign of how badly federal agencies responsible for the welfare of vulnerable populations have eroded under Trump. 

The plea came a day after St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer told MSNBC that “FEMA has not been on the ground” and that the city does not “have confirmed assistance from FEMA at this point.”

“What we need right now is federal assistance. This is where FEMA and the federal government has got to come in and help communities. Our city cannot shoulder this alone. The state of Missouri cannot shoulder this alone,” Spencer said. “We need partners at the national level, at the federal level, to step up and help — and this is not just true for St. Louis. Cities across the nation, when they are experiencing disasters such as this, this is what the federal government is for.”

Last month, Arkansas’ Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders — who previously served as Trump’s press secretary — issued a letter to the president pleading with him to reconsider FEMA’s denial of an emergency disaster declaration request as the state recovered from a series of tornadoes in March. In her letter, Sanders wrote that “without the support of a Major Disaster Declaration, Arkansas will face significant challenges in assuming full responsibility and achieving an effective recovery from this event,” and that “supplemental Federal assistance is crucial” to recovery efforts. 

The declaration was finally issued on May 13, almost exactly two months after the storms hit the state, and a month after Huckabee wrote to the president.

Meanwhile, Kentucky’s Democratic Governor Andy Beshear appeared on CNN to discuss the tornadoes that killed 19 people in the state over the last week. “I’m very concerned about cuts to FEMA or to the National Weather Service,” Beshear said. “But I want to be clear that the actual response on the ground by the Trump administration and Secretary Noem has been good. The way FEMA has treated people has been good. The president has approved each of our applications,” he added. 

The disparity in response levels speaks to the scattershot, disorganized manner with which the Trump administration has handled disaster responses. 

In the months since Trump assumed office, FEMA has been hit with sweeping staffing and management cuts in accordance with Trump and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiatives. In March, Noem announced that she would move to “eliminate” the agency altogether and transfer disaster management responsibilities to individual states. FEMA’s interim head Cameron Hamilton was removed from his post earlier this month after testifying before Congress that he felt the agency’s demise would be detrimental to public welfare. His replacement, former Marine Corps Officer David Richardson, sent a dire warning to staff: “Don’t get in my way […] because I will run right over you. I will achieve the president’s intent.” 

During Tuesday’s Senate hearing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) grilled Noem on the Trump administration’s plans to gut FEMA, and how it would affect their ability to respond to disasters. 

“You are losing a fifth of the workforce at FEMA. What’s your plan to replace them?” Blumenthal asked. “How are you going to meet the needs of our constituents?”

Noem dodged the question, talking over Blumenthal’s attempts to redirect her and claiming that it was actually the Biden administration’s fault that the agency was bloated and ineffective. 

But as much as Trump’s Cabinet would like to place the failings of the administration at the feet of his predecessor, the states currently attempting to manage deadly disasters aren’t running to Joe Biden for assistance — they’re begging the current occupant of the White House. 

KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics on both sides of the state line. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.

———

Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe is strongly considering calling a special session so legislators can pass a proposal to help professional sports teams finance stadium renovations or relocations.

The State Senate failed to pass Senate Bill 80 after the State House of Representatives signed off on the proposal during the final week of the general legislative session.

What is a special session? Missouri governor considering calling one

The bill would allow the state to redirect taxes generated at a stadium back to the professional sports teams so they could use the money to pay off construction loans.

When a governor proclaims a special session, members of the House and Senate return to Jefferson City for a maximum of 60 days. They can only discuss and vote on items listed in the governor’s priorities for the session.

Under the previous governor, Mike Parson, Missouri held special sessions in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 to discuss policies on taxes, violence prevention, healthcare funding, and more.

In 2024, Kansas used a special session to pass a stadium financing package to lure the teams across the state line.

“I think it [a special session] will happen,” said Bob Hicks. “I think they’ll come up with something. But I don’t know if it’s going to be competitive enough at this point based on what Kansas has already done.”

Sports fans like Hicks expect Kehoe to call a special session, but aren’t convinced how it will impact the team’s ultimate decisions.

“I think people will show up, but I don’t think it’s the right way to do it,” said Barbara Larson, a local sports fan. “The governor was too late to the table to make a proposal.”

People expect Kehoe to call for a special session before the end of June.