When new Missouri athletics director Jim Sterk accepted a grey and white Missouri football jersey with his name on it from MU interim chancellor Hank Foley, it signified stability.
Stability for a program that has spent a lot of time in the news this past calendar year. Stability for a university that has the word interim attached to its highest leaders. Stability for a program that has had five athletic directors in 2016 alone.
Yet the good news is the scandals and the tabloids are now Missouri. Sterk takes over without having to do damage control; instead he can focus on moving the program forward.
The football boycott is now just a footnote in the team's history. The NCAA's investigation of the men's basketball program is over. Softball coach Ehren Earleywine was cleared by Title IX.
Now Missouri just needs to hold onto an athletics director longer than former A.D. Mack Rhoades' 14-month tenure.
Sterk passes the eye test, at least.
He said Missouri is a destination, and wants to have a 17-year-long tenure the way Mike Alden did for the Tigers. And, unlike Rhoades, he actually looked happy in his role.
Maybe Sterk is great at feigning happiness, but if he is so great at it he fooled everyone he knew. He seems to leave a favorable impression on everyone he comes in contact with.
"I was looking for people to tell me Jim's reputation is too good to be true, I really tried, I really did, but to be honest I couldn't find them," Foley said. "Instead I've heard words like highly-seasoned, inordinate passion, uniquely gifted. All the attributes of a proven athletic and academic leader."
Missouri got this one right.
San Diego State had its most successful five-year period for football and men's basketball when he was there. Since 2010 when he took over the combined winning percentages of the two team's was the third best in Division I athletics. The basketball team a mainstay in NCAA Tournaments, the football team one in bowl games.
He received a positive reputation for his fund raising, and succeeded as a school with the fraction of the budget Missouri provides.
If there is one blemish for Sterk, it is not as successful record of hiring coaches. Bill Doba and Paul Wulff were duds when Sterk hired them when he was Washington State's A.D. from 2000-2010. He couldn't keep Tony Bennett as men's basketball coach. At San Diego State, Steve Fisher was already in place as men's basketball coach. His most notable hire was elevating Rocky Long from assistant football coach to head coach in 2011.
Yet at Missouri, he might not even have to make that many hires.
Football coach Barry Odom and men's basketball coach Kim Anderson played for the Tigers. New baseball coach Steve Beiser is from Missouri. Women's basketball coach Robin Pingeton and Earleywine have long tenures at Missouri.
"There's a lot of people, there's coaches I've met that have been here 17 years and I think that really, really helps," Sterk said, "and those that have played. (Odom) has a really got feel for what's happening here, so I'll rely on those coaches."
Sterk inherited a group of coaches who could potentially be great.
Odom might not have been the first choice when Gary Pinkel retired at the end of last season. Sonny Dykes, Mark Richt, Justin Fuente and Matt Campbell were all names floated out.
Still, even if Odom was not first, he might be the best long-term. It was only a matter of time before the 39-year-old would be an FBS head coach, so why not have it happen at his alma mater? Not to mention, it's harder to imagine Odom leaving for greener pastures compared to the other candidates.
Would Dykes have stuck around through the rotating door of athletic directors? Would Fuente pass up offers if a school like Alabama, Ohio State or USC came calling? It is impossible to say Odom will be a lifer so long as the team succeeds, but it is much more plausible than the rest of the field given his ties to the university.
"It's going to be really hard to get me down," Odom said. "This is an unbelievable university, I feel very comfortable where we're at from a football program standpoint. I like the people that I work with every day in the athletic department and I think we have a chance to win championships here."
Then there is the men's basketball team. Anderson already had his work cut out for him building them back to prominence after former coach Frank Haith left him nothing to work with before the NCAA investigation. He was not even here or knew about them when he took the job, which could send any coach running for the door.
Yet he has doubled-down this is where he wants to stay. The win/loss record has yet to show it, but Missouri fans should be thankful for a coach loyal enough to stick through the bad.
On the diamond, Missouri's baseball program is at a natural disadvantage because of the weather being much colder in Missouri vs. the rest of the SEC when baseball season starts in February. Bieser isn't using it as an excuse, and will work not run from any perceived disadvantages.
"This is my pick job," Bieser said at his introductory press conference in July. "I don't know how long I will be at any spot, but this is the spot I plan on being at until I'm too old to coach."
Three relatively new coaches with Missouri ties, a host of other longer tenured head coaches and a seemingly genuine A.D. finally give Missouri something it hasn't had in seemingly a lifetime: stability.
Now, time to focus on bringing home championships.
"I think that's where our real Missouri roots and ties are," Foley said, "we've got them right here in our coaching staff. I want them to succeed and win championships."