Why They Coach: Cuonzo Martin

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PM: Growing up, what sports did you play?

CM: "My main sport when I was growing up was baseball. I didn't start playing basketball until the fourth grade. Really, my teacher and coach, he coached back in elementary school, softball. Even though it was men, it was still softball. But then you had baseball, like summer baseball it was real baseball, but in elementary school it was softball. So he was the softball coach. I played softball and baseball but he was also the basketball coach. That was how i got into basketball in the fourth grade. I was probably a little taller--not very tall--than other guys. That was how I got into it. It wasn't a love of mine. I scored three points that whole year. I shot, it wasn't three points, it was a three-point shot almost at half court, and I made that shot. It was my two points for the year. But it wasn't my thing."

PM: At what point did you know you wanted to go into coaching?

CM: "I remember with coach (Gene) Keady, what happened was my junior year, obviously my knee situation, coach knew that and I never was a guy that talked about 'I can't wait to go to the NBA, I'm playing in the NBA,' because I understood the dynamics of my knees and all that. But what happened was, we were practicing and coach Keady said, he was kind of explaining, like Glenn (Robinson) is a bona fide NBA guy, no question about it. Everybody else, you can possibly make it, be a role player, you can make the team. I kind of said, 'Well, I'll be a big guy' kind of how Glenn was. Kind of like joking, but you know. Then coach, when it was done, he pulled me to the side and he said you really need to focus. It wasn't like it was a shock to me, I understood what he was saying: With your knees, you can't. So that was my junior year. So it went on and I was always a good leader. Then when he called me about the opportunity to be on his staff, I had to go and finish up school and he called me about the opportunity and I just said, that was the point. But I didn't grow up saying I want to be a coach one day. That wasn't the case. But I always tried to lead and live by example. I wasn't one of those guys, you make me a captain, now you lead. It was just kind of natural."

PM: I don't know if it was Coach Keady or somebody before that who was really the first coach you kind of connected with.

CM: "I just think, man, you're talking about it would probably start with my elementary school coach, Mr. Nelson. He passed away probably about six years ago. So it would probably would start with him. Then my junior high coach, he passed away probably about ten years ago. Then my high school coach (Bennie Lewis), who's obviously still living. What happens when you're in those communities, whether they're black or white, those communities, everybody grew up knowing everybody. So it was a transition, elementary, now it's junior high, high school coach, and they all probably went to school together anyway. So you know going to junior high, you already knew what was expected. You knew the coach, he knew you, so the transition was like that. But I would have to say my elementary coach because of softball when I got into the third and fourth grade. I had little league baseball coaches, we always had those guys. For me, it was always the coach because you leaned on what they said and you always tried to do what was right. Not that you tried to be smarter than anybody, it was just what's right. You were taught to do what's right. That's what it was. I'd like to think I was a good player or a good teammate so it was a little easier for me to transition. Not that I was the best player, but I didn't get chewed on a lot because I tried to do the right thing."

PM: A couple of people I've talked to have said you take good things from coaches you've had, but you also take some bad things and file them away as things you aren't going to do when you become a coach.

CM: "With all of my coaches, the one thing that my coaches did when I was growing up, whether you say swear or cuss words, everybody uses it different, they didn't do a lot of that to degrade you. They would say what they had to say and they would move on, but it wasn't like they were beating you up with their words. So all the way up, I never heard words where I was like, that's a tough thing to say where they're breaking your spirit. Again, it wouldn't bother me because I was in that environment anyway. Even like coach Keady, he was never a guy, you could say he was old-school at the time, but he never used words that would break your spirit or break you down. He could coach in today's climate, outside of some of the funny jokes they say, he was never one of those guys that would break you down with his words. I never dealt with that to say, 'Okay, when I become a head coach, I don't want to use those words because those guys never talked like that.' That was never the case. My high school coach rarely talked. He was all business. He said what he needed to say. But I think if anything, and I don't want this to come off the wrong way, but coach Keady, when he came up, they were recruiting, it was 365 days, it was round the clock. It was just recruiting. You're really away from your family. We think we have it bad now, but you were really away from your family. So when I became a head coach, I really felt like you have to find time for yourself to get away and also for your assistants to get away. So what we try to do with our staff, because our sport, men's basketball, it's like it's year-round. You might have a dead period where it's six or seven days, but even in a dead period, you're still able to call recruits. So what I try to do with that is in the month of May and August, I tell our assistants take a week off. And as long as they communicate with each other on when you're leaving. Just to try to get away from it."

PM: A lot of coaches start coaching in high school or even junior high. Your first job was in a college program. A lot of people say a lot of people that could be at this level aren't at this level because they didn't know the right person. Was your connection with coach Keady your break?

CM: "Oh, without question. I think that had a lot to do with me as a young man, as a student-athlete, as a guy that played for him and how you carry yourself. Because it's the same way. I have two grad assistants that played for me and they're a reason why they're grad assistants because of what they did. Good players, but also how they carry themselves and the relationship. I mean, there are a lot of really good players, but not everybody's built to do that. So I just think for me, having the opportunity to be with a guy that I played for, to learn under him, it helped me now. I say all the time, it probably took me about three years to really learn and understand. And it might sound crazy, but when I say three years, I mean, the relationships in recruiting. It's not just a phone call once a month; the relationships, the writing letters. At that time, when I first got in, cell phones were there, but not to the level of text messages, so it was a lot of writing letters. So if you write coaches, just build those relationships. I think it was about three years just understanding because I think when you look at a lot of really good players or talented players that played college ball or played in the NBA, not a lot of them are coaches. Because I think what happens, in my opinion, a lot of great players, really talented guys, they didn't understand or struggled to understand or didn't take the time to understand what it meant to be the eighth, ninth, tenth, 11th, 12th, 13th guy on the roster. And those in most cases are the guys that became head coaches because they listened. They took notes, they studied. Not that they were any smarter than the other guys, but I think they also had a level of compassion of what it means to pick up the towels, to sweep the floor, to do all the grunt work, so to speak. I think when you're the best player, everything is kind of catered around you so you don't see that work that goes on behind the scenes. When you walked out, you threw the towel down, somebody else picked that towel up. So now, to be able to coach, you're used to coaching at a high level, your whole roster is this, well that's not the case because there's normally only one or two guys like that. So now you have to be able to function with a team to put them together."

PM: Big picture, what's the best part or the most rewarding part of being a coach?

CM: "Oh, man, I think you see young men be successful. Of course, I mean the goal for me, I hope to one day win a national championship. So let's put that aside. But I think when you're talking about young men, especially when they come in as 17, 18, 19 years old, they leave with degrees, they're here for four plus years with degrees, successful jobs and careers, eventually have families. Those are the things that excite me. When you see young guys just grow into men, they understand and they're able to take constructive criticism and coaching and grow from it. And not to take it personally. I think those are the ones that I like to be around, just seeing the maturity. Sometimes as a coach, you have to take a step back and you have to grow and understand them personally. I think with young guys, they understand, 'Okay, I'm away from home, different environment, different culture, different people, let me let my guard down and allow myself to learn.' And I think that's when you can grow and I think that's when you have fun. I've always been around, I like guys that just, man, play as hard as you can play. Try your best, be honest with me. All those things. We'll be okay. I like to see guys like Kevin Puryear. He'll graduate, he'll have a really good job for a Mizzou alum, which is great. Those are the things that excite me. And you see Kevin's spirit, he's excited to do it. That's what it's about for me."

PM: I don't want to say what's the worst part, but what's the hardest part?

CM: "When you see young guys that make tough decisions, poor decisions, and at that time, they don't realize when they're going through it. You try to warn them, you try to help them and you get a call five, ten years down the road, they say, 'Man, I wish I would have listened' or 'Can you help me with this?' or 'Can you loan me this?' Those are the ones I don't like. I don't like because we all fall short, so I'm not saying that, but when you explain to a young man, 'This is about to happen if you're not prepared, this is about to happen, just trust me right here' and they don't do it, those are the kind of calls I don't want. I don't like those calls.

PM: This job specifically, are there any challenges that are unique to Missouri that you haven't had other places?

CM: "Not at all. Every job has its challenges. I think what happens, there's always different places, different things you deal with, different dynamics, different areas of recruiting. Some might have great recruiting bases, some you might have to travel a distance. It's always different, but I think the common denominator is just the people you have on your staff and the people you have around you. Because as long as you have scholarships, you get 13 scholarships, and you build relationships and get quality student-athletes, some might take a little longer, some might be ready-made from day one, and you're able to build a team and I think you have a chance to be successful."

PM: Whether it's two years or 30 years down the road, when you're done, what would you want people to say about you as a coach?

CM: "I think he cared for his players. And sometimes it doesn't seem like it when you're going through it. Most times when they get older, they realize what it is, but when you're young and you're going through it. He cared about his players. He truly wanted to see them be successful and them to have happy lives. But often times when you're going through that journey, there's bumpy roads as you're going through it, then once you realize the big picture, the importance of the big scheme of things, then they realize, 'Oh, I got you, coach.'"