Missouri has announced the hiring of Cuonzo Martin as its next head basketball coach. Martin comes to Columbia after three years at California, where he was 62-39 and made one NCAA Tournament and one NIT.
Martin also coached three years at Tennessee and three at Missouri State. He made the NCAA Tournament once at Tennessee, advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2014. He is 186-121 in nine years, including a 60-44 mark in six years combined in the SEC and PAC-12.
Martin is a native of East St. Louis who played his college basketball at Purdue. He has twice been tied to the Missouri job before, but took the Tennessee job when Frank Haith was hired and then went to Cal prior to Kim Anderson being hired at Mizzou.
“We are thrilled that Cuonzo is returning to the Midwest and that his family will now call Columbia home,” Mizzou Director of Athletics Jim Sterk said. “From the outset of our search, our goal was to find a coach who had demonstrated success, academically and on the court, while also sharing our values and who can help to reignite interest in Mizzou Men’s Basketball among our fan base. I believe we found all of that and more with Cuonzo and I look forward to watching him compete for championships and postseason appearances for many years to come.”
Martin and Mizzou officials met in Oakland for nearly five hours on Sunday afternoon. The following day, Martin spoke to Cal officials. Following the Bears loss to Bakersfield in the first round of the NIT on Tuesday, he officially resigned on Wednesday.
Martin will be officially introduced at Mizzou Arena at 4:00 on Monday afternoon.
