For all those casual fans and woefully uninformed Spring-Breakers left out of the loop, allow me to be the first to introduce Mr. Frank Haith.

Haith was officially hired on Monday to be the University of Missouri’s 17th head basketball coach, replacing the Arkansas-bound Mike Anderson. He was born in Queens, N.Y., is 45 years young, and strongly resembles an older, plumper Steve Urkel. Besides that, Haith is relatively unknown. Since the jaw-dropping hire, Tiger basketball fans have been clamoring for information about their new basketball coach, and in that search many people have run into a bit of confusion. So, let me take a moment to clear a few things up.

First and foremost, Frank Haith is not Mike Anderson. Many fans grew attached to the “Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball” that operated under Anderson’s rule, and rightly so. The Tigers forced turnovers, got easy baskets in transition and applied constant pressure defensively (discounting the 2011 season). Simply put, his teams were fun to watch. But with that said, Frank Haith is going to apply his own style, and we should applaud him for teaching what he knows.

In that same vein, it may be a difficult fact to deal with, but Frank Haith is also not Matt Painter. Painter is a superb coach, and it was obvious why Missouri would have interest in him. The stats are there— in his six seasons at Purdue, Painter has been named Big Ten Coach of the Year three times. He has reached the NCAA Tournament in five of those six seasons, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen twice. In my estimation, Painter would have been an upgrade over the formerly beloved Anderson. And so, Mike Alden and Co. made their pitch to Painter. They attempted to seduce him with “Show-Me State” dollars, and Painter still said no. He chose his home state, his alma mater, and his dream job instead of the green. Good for him. End of story, right?

Not quite. Now, Haith seems already to have lost without ever playing a game at Mizzou Arena. He doesn’t have Painter’s career record or Anderson’s exhilarating style of play, and many Missouri fans have been quick to doubt him because of that. Obviously, many of the concerns are justified. Haith secured just a 129-101 record in seven seasons as head coach of the Miami Hurricanes, and reached the NCAA Tournament only once. In short, he hasn’t won enough basketball games to earn the benefit of the doubt.

But here’s what Haith does bring. Seemingly, his two biggest attributes are his experience coaching in the Big 12 as well as his formidable success with recruiting. Along with stints at Elon, Wake Forest, UNC Wilmington and Penn State, he has been an assistant at both Texas A&M and Texas, most notably being mentored by Rick Barnes (which I’m not sure is a good thing). He has also been given much of the credit for luring Longhorn stars such as T.J. Ford and LaMarcus Aldridge to Austin, and in the current state of college basketball, recruiting seems to be at least half the battle.

With all that said, there are still a lot more questions than answers. Coach Haith needs to hit the recruiting trail immediately, and bringing quality talent back to Columbia will be a positive first step towards winning the fans’ trust, not to mention basketball games. Still, we probably won’t know if this was a quality hire for another three to four seasons. Until then, all we can do is “keep the Haith.”