Cuonzo Martin

Cal's Cuonzo Martin Resigns To Take Job At Missouri

... yells during an NCAA college basketball game against UCLA in Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017. Martin, who led California’s men’s basketball for the past three seasons, has resigned as head coach, Athletics Director Mike Williams announced, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker, File). BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — In a whirlwind few hours, Cuonzo Martin resigned at California on Wednesday and was announced as the new coach at Missouri in his home state. He's headed back to the place he knows so well, a big attraction to lure him away from Berkeley after three seasons. Missouri scheduled a "campus celebration" for Monday open to the public. Martin will take over for the fired Kim Anderson. "We are thrilled that Cuonzo is returning to the Midwest and that his family will now call Columbia home," Mizzou athletic director 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 re-ignite 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 ...

Martin Would Make Sense For Tigers Or Illini

... be able to accomplish if he returns. He recruits AND develops. He instills this special brand of toughness in his teams, the kind that is in him. It's what launched him from "the hole" — the unofficial name of the East St. Louis housing project he once called home — to a stellar career at Purdue. It's what helped him wrestle with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and win. And he does all of this while staying on the right side of NCAA rules. Some people still care about such things. Full disclosure: I'm campaigning for a candidate who wants nothing to do with this discussion at the moment. Martin's contract at Cal, which The Mercury News reported pays him an average of $1.84 million per year, runs through the 2020-21 season. And neither Mizzou nor Illinois has an opening to address. The only thing on Martin's mind right now is finding a way to beat sixth-ranked Oregon tonight. It would be a big win for his on-the-bubble Golden Bears. But common sense says Mizzou athletics director Jim Sterk and his Illinois counterpart Josh Whitman need to make a move as soon as the season ends. Please zoom out from Illinois' current two-game winning streak ...

Can Illinois State Get An At-large Bid? Is Cuonzo Martin Next At Mizzou

... the way Wichita State had one last season. The Shockers were 21 st in Ken Pom on Selection Sunday last year. Illinois State is 49 th in Ken Pom right now. Again, we would love to see Illinois State in the NCAA Tournament. Gonna be tough, though. We followed that conversation with a conversation about Missouri’s opening. The school forced Kim Anderson to resign Sunday afternoon. Is Cuonzo Martin next? Maybe Lorenzo Romar? Maybe Dan Muller? We discussed all three potential candidates - then talked about North Carolina’s ACC regular-season title and the weird hangup some ACC fans have about anybody proclaiming anybody an ACC regular-season champion. Like it or not, right or wrong, there is a such thing as an ACC regular-season champion, as UNC beat writer Andrew Carter pointed out Saturday night. Why so many folks refuse to acknowledge this is a mystery. But I talked about those people on this podcast. I called ...

3 Big Questions About Mizzou's Coaching Search

... locally and nationally. 1 of 3. Indiana head coach Tom Crean argues a call during the second half of the Feb. 28 game against Purdue. (AP Photo). California head coach Cuonzo Martin, during the Feb. 11 game at Arizona. (AP Photo). Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar. (AP Photo). Ben Fred: 3 big questions about Mizzou's coaching search. Mar 7, 2017. Indiana head coach Tom Crean argues a call during the second half of the Feb. 28 game against Purdue. (AP Photo). 1. Would Tom Crean seek an early exit. You can see how it could work. After realizing his nine-year run at Indiana might not get the chance to turn 10, Tom Crean departs for a fresh start at Missouri before the Hoosiers can fire him. Hoosiers and Tigers could celebrate together. Crean, 50, would leave behind a complicated legacy at Indiana. After inheriting a program bogged down by NCAA sanctions, he totaled four NCAA tournament appearances, three trips to the Sweet 16, two first-place finishes in the Big Ten and one conference coach of the year award (2016). But Indiana fans expect more. They want to hang a sixth national championship banner and reconfirm their status as one of college ...

Tatum's Time, Cuonzo's Choice, Muller Miffed, Shatty Sits

... St. Louis have this dance. Across the country, bracket hullabaloo is causing a stir. Around here, March Sadness is in full effect. They're scheduling sick days for watch parties at Buffalo Wild Wings. We're twiddling our thumbs — or searching Flight __link__ for signs of a coaching search update. What's a fan to do when no team within a reasonable drive is playing in the NCAA tournament. I'm here to offer a solution: Root for Duke. OK, maybe don't roooot for Duke. But follow the blue-blooded Blue Devils, and at least pull for the hometown kid who is playing his best basketball when college basketball is at its best. That's my plan. I'm going to cheer for Jayson Tatum. And because SLU, Mizzou and Illinois abused us all season, I'm not even going to feel a little bit bad about it. Not even when that sniveling Grayson Allen trips his next victim. Thanks to an incredible ACC tournament from Tatum, Duke is dancing as a No. 2 seed. The Blue Devils improved their stock late by winning their first ACC tournament title since 2011. The former Chaminade star averaged 22 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists through four tournament wins in four days. "I think there should have ...

Coaching Profile

... Rabb and Jaylen Brown as part of the country’s No. 2 recruiting class in 2015. Martin’s on-court resume, while not necessarily sterling, is competitive. He guided Missouri State to some of its best years in program history during his three seasons in Springfield — the Bears won the College __link__ Tournament in his second season and the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title (upending Wichita State in the conference finale) in his third season. Many in Springfield still speak highly of Martin’s work and demeanor during his time there. He was given a tough act at Tennessee, where the memory of Bruce Pearl was still fresh in many people’s minds. You’d be hard pressed to find a more spirited stump for Martin than this one , penned by former Tennessee basketball beat writer and current St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Ben Frederickson. Cal hasn’t been a regular tournament team under Martin, but the Golden Bears have been competitive. They’re squarely on the bubble this season, his third in Berkeley, and might be able to squeak into the field with a strong showing in the Pac-12 Tournament. Martin ...

Illinois Starts New Era Swiftly Firing John Groce

... the same hometown. NC State may face challenge replacing Mark Gottfried as head coach. Illinois did well in moving fast to move on from Groce. It seemingly had at least one other candidate in mind, and that list may be longer than just Monty Williams. Archie Miller’s name surely will be bandied about. USC coach Andy Enfield and Oklahoma City Thunder assistant Adrian Griffin may get a look or may be interested. Though Cuonzo Martin is an extremely logical option, a number of circumstances can upend logic in a coaching search very easily. Still, consider the summer of 1990, when Martin was a standout player for Lincoln High School in his hometown. He was, by all accounts, set to commit to play for Illinois. Then the infamous Deon Thomas scandal broke, in which then-Iowa assistant Bruce Pearl reportedly taped Illinois assistant Jimmy Collins telling Thomas that the school would pay him for his pledge to play in Champaign. Martin headed to Purdue instead, where he won two league titles and grew into a first-team All-Big Ten player as a senior. Barely two days after another disappointing finish to a ...

Cuonzo Martin An Offseason Coaching Target

... 2-3 hour drive from Champaign) and played on two state title teams there. Our SB Nation Illinois site Champaign Room thinks he’d be a good candidate. Arkansas basketball coach Mike Anderson has his team sitting on the bubble for the first time in a long time. I’m not sure they’re really thinking about getting a new coach. Missouri basketball coach Kim Anderson has struggled mightily in his first three seasons with the Tigers. Martin, as we said before, is from East St. Louis, which is only a two hour drive away. LSU basketball coach Johnny Jones was an abject disaster last season, turning eventual #1 overall pick Ben Simmons into a 19-14 record and no NCAA postseason appearance. With LSU sitting at 9-16 and dead-last in the SEC, you have to imagine the reset button is coming. I’m a bit more skeptical of these news stories than the Sonny Dykes coaching flirtations. It’s hard to say that ANY of those programs are much more attractive ...