Cuonzo Martin brings winning culture to Missouri basketball
In mid-March, the Cuonzo Martin era began for Missouri basketball. While Martin wasn’t the top choice for a lot of fans, he brings a winning culture to Tigers basketball.
Martin has been the face of a few programs before taking the head coaching job at Missouri, including stints at California-Berkeley, Tennessee, and Missouri State.
After a successful career in the NBA, Martin returned to his roots at Purdue University, where he played college basketball.
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Martin’s first coaching job was at Purdue, where he held an assistant coaches position. While he was there, the Boilermakers appeared in the second-round of the NCAA tournament three times, and made a trip to the NCAA Tournament ‘Elite Eight,’ once. In his eighth and final year at Purdue, Martin was named Associate Head Coach.
Purdue’s overall record in the eight years that Martin was there as an assistant, was 153-129.
Later in the spring of 2008, Martin was named head basketball coach at Missouri State, where he spent three seasons leading the program to relevance.
After Martin’s first year on the job with the Bears, the basketball program’s efficiency rating was 204th in the nation. In his second year, efficiency improved to 72nd in the nation, and in his final year, 71st.
While Missouri State is not going to beckon to the high-profile recruits that a power conference school will, the Bears’ efficiency improved 96% over three seasons with athletes he recruited. Martin finished with a winning record over three seasons, 61-41. The Bears won the CIT Championship one year, and made the second-round of the NIT tournament. Since his departure, the Bears have appeared in one CIT game.
In 2012, Martin was hired as the head coach for Tennessee. After his first season, the Volunteers’ efficiency rated at 58th in the nation. Following his second year, efficiency dropped 25% to 75th in the nation. In Martin’s final season, Tennessee’s efficiency shot up 165% to 7th in the nation.
During Martin’s tenure at Tennessee, the Vols played in the NIT twice, and appeared in the NCAA tournament’s ‘Sweet Sixteen’ round. Even though Tennessee’s efficiency plummeted in his second year, the Vols were still relevant and earned an invitation to the NIT. Again, this speaks to Martin’s ability to build a winning culture.
In 2014, Martin became the new head coach at the University of California, or “Cal,” as it’s commonly known. In his three years with the Golden Bears, the basketball program appeared in the first round of the NCAA tournament in his second year. In his third year, Cal appeared in the first round of the NIT tournament.
At Cal, Martin amassed an overall record of 62-39 – a 61.4 winning percentage. The hope for Missouri fans, is that Martin won’t be a “three-and-out” coach while at Mizzou, but given his past tendency, the least Tigers fans can expect is a three-year stint from Martin.
In only his first week on the job, he has received a commitment from the No. 1 ranked recruit in. The. Country. That is a major deal, and while Michael Porter, Jr.’s commitment didn’t occur solely on his recruiting efforts, it is still an aspect that will drive Martin’s winning culture.
Four days into the job, and Coach Martin had already hit the recruiting trail. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, as of Tuesday, Kevin Knox, the No. 7 recruit in the country, stated that his playing for Mizzou next season is “a possibility. I have one more official visit, that could be it. …My dad has talked to (coach Cuonzo Martin) a couple times, and he recruited me when he was at Cal.” While having the No. 1 recruit committed to his program doesn’t hurt Missouri’s odds, the fact that Porter, Jr. is also doing a little ‘recruiting’ of his own, doesn’t hurt Martin’s efforts, either.
Teams coached by Martin have a history of success, and have shown improvement from year-to-year. This era marks a very special point in Missouri basketball’s history, and I am just as excited as the rest of the fans to see it all play out.