COLUMBIA, MO. • After stops in Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, Florida and Tennessee, Missouri offensive coordinator Derek Dooley is farther north than his coaching career has taken him. Following a five-year tour in the NFL, he’s back in the Southeastern Conference, but not exactly in the South, though Columbia feels like his first home.
"Missouri’s always historically been like ‘What are we?’" Dooley said in his Mizzou office in late July. "It goes back to the Missouri Compromise. It’s always teetered on the North, the South, the Midwest. But I’ve enjoyed it here. This town reminds me of where I grew up in Athens.