In the latest episode of “Mizzou Storytellers,” Nikki Barry and Dave Matter welcome newly hired Mizzou Director of Athletics Laird Veatch into the studio to tell his story – from speedy youth track star in Manhattan, Kansas, to Big Eight linebacker at Kansas State, to an athletics administrator on college sport’s biggest stage. Laird shares stories about his decision to play football for Kansas State over Mizzou; his start in college athletics administration at Texas; and working alongside several future leaders across the industry as part of “Alden’s Army” at Mizzou. He talks about the career choices he’s made along the way – Missouri, Iowa State, Learfield, Kansas State, Florida, Memphis – seizing second-chance opportunities and the unexpected CoMo homecoming that’s brought him and his family back to Mizzou, back where he took some of his first major steps along the journey.

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In this week’s episode of “Mizzou Storytellers,” Nikki Barry and Dave Matter invited gymnastics coach Shannon Welker into the studio to talk about his roots in suburban St. Louis, his Hall of Fame collegiate career and how his love for the sport pulled him into coaching. Shannon reflects on the Missouri gymnastics program’s growth under his watch in the last 12 years and his heightened expectations for 2024-25 and beyond.

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In this week’s “Mizzou Storytellers,” Nikki Barry and Dave Matter are joined by a master storyteller, the dean of Mizzou head coaches and the man behind “Tiger Style,” wrestling’s Brian Smith. Coach Smith details his journey from Long Island to South Florida to the Ivy League to Mizzou and all the stops in between that defined his climb as one of the greatest Mizzou coaches of all time. The son of a high school football coach who knew his destiny at a young age, Smith shares his memories on the earliest days of MU’s championship program, the birth of “Tiger Style” and the breakthroughs that charted the program’s path toward his upcoming 27th season at Mizzou.

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