Legendary Status

Missouri State Bears Baseball Coach Keith Guttin reached legendary status over the weekend by winning his 900th baseball game.  Guttin, already the All-time winningest coach in Bears Baseball history, picked up the milestone win against Middle Tennessee St. University on Sunday at Hammons Field in Springfield. 

The win occured during Guttins 26th season as the field general of the Bears Baseball team, which is an average of nearly 35 wins per year.  He has won over 40 games in half of the seasons he has coached at MSU.  He has been named a Conference (Mid Continent/Missouri Valley) Coach of the year 11 times in his career and National Coach of the year once.

The point of this information is Keith Guttin has for much too long flown under the radar of the Ozarks Sports scene.  He has won Championships, participated in NCAA tournaments, led his team to the pinnacle of College baseball, the College World Series in Omaha, developed players and kept his nose clean for 26 years.  His list of accomplishments at Missouri State University would fill up a notebook.  The names of players he helped developed in the game look like a who's who of major league baseball.  Ryan Howard, Bill Mueller, Shawn Marcum, John Rheinecker and Ross Detweiler, just to name a few. 

In an area that will induct Fans, High School Coaches, College Athletes and Officials into Halls of Fame with less accomplishments than Keith Guttin, I ask why?   Why hasn't Guttin been inducted into the Missouri State University Athletic Hall of Fame?  Why hasn't Guttin been inducted into the Missouri Sports or Springfield Area Hall of Fame?  Why doesn't Guttin receive half the attention of Basketball Coaches at his same University?  Is it because of his mild mannered personality?  Does he need to throw chairs to be recognized by the media in this area?  Should he berate his players publicly to have fans in the area pay attention to his program?

As the All-Time Division One Winningest Coach in the State of Missouri, Keith Guttin deserves the same status as the other All-Time top coaches from the State.  Norm Stewart, Dan Devine, and Eddie Hickey among others.