Why Mizzou’s Cuonzo Martin is still the right coach for the Tigers basketball program
.JPG "Missouri men’s basketball coach Cuonzo Martin led his Tigers to a rally and victory over Georgia on Saturday in Columbia.")
Cuonzo and his band of Fighting Martins couldn’t go out like that could they?
The start to Saturday’s home finale against downtrodden Georgia was bad — the listless Tigers were down 7–0 to start the game and trailed by 12 before the first media timeout. After Georgia’s Aaron Cook, Jr. ripped Boogie Coleman on two early possessions and finished each with a slam, you figured the Tigers were in for a long afternoon.
Mizzou fought back — toughness is the hallmark of Martin’s program. The Tigers tied the game at 51-51 early in the second half, took their first lead shortly thereafter and held on for a 79-69 win over the visiting Bulldogs.
The game concluded the Tigers’ 11-win regular season. They are guaranteed one more game under Martin’s leadership. A first-round matchup against Ole Miss in the SEC tournament in Tampa could be the last for the Tigers’ coach.
But it shouldn’t be.
Martin has been through worse than three losing basketball seasons in five years. He navigated the mean streets of East St. Louis in the 1980s and later battled cancer. He’s principled, a man of faith and a mentor to young men. Saturday’s win had to be a relief for Martin. He said otherwise.
Some are unhappy with the direction of the Mizzou program. You can’t lose to the last-place team in the SEC at home and quiet such chatter. But the Tigers responded.
Martin is still the right person for the job. Just one senior — Javon Pickett — was celebrated on Saturday. Can Martin guide the Tigers back from this dreadful season? He’d better. He and his coaching staff must identify, recruit and retain SEC-ready players. It’s on the head coach to find premiere talent.
In this new era of college athletics, where name, image and likeness opportunities for student-athletes will make or break middling programs like Mizzou’s, integrity may not translate to enough wins for Martin to keep his job.
New Mizzou athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois is a Martin supporter. Her son will join the basketball program as a walk-on next year. The two have history at one of Martin’s previous stops. But Reed-Francois reports to meddlesome UM System President and MU Chancellor Mun Choi, who answers to influential alumni and boosters.
Martin’s buyout is a reported $6 million. If the big-money donors are dissatisfied with the direction of Mizzou’s program, the former head coach at Missouri State, Tennessee and Cal is as good as gone.
He didn’t seem worried.
“I expect to get up tomorrow and go to church,” Martin said.
Could Martin make sacrificial lambs out of assistant coaches Chris Hollender, Cornell Mann or Marco Harris-Stevens to appease a Tigers fan base clamoring for relevancy in the SEC? Not likely, the people who know him say. Loyalty is a trait Martin possesses in abundance.
Martin has never been fired. He left Knoxville after a faction of Tennessee fans clamored for a return of Bruce Pearl, a notorious cheater who wins at a high level. Pearl’s Auburn Tigers won the SEC regular-season title and are poised for a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
Chuck Person, one of Pearl’s former assistant coaches at Auburn, was federally charged with bribery for steering high-level basketball recruits to certain financial advisors. Pearl, a former Iowa assistant, was slapped with a laughable two-game suspension by the NCAA as a result. He was coming off a three-year show-cause penalty in 2014 for lying to NCAA investigators about recruiting violations committed under his watch as Volunteers head coach — Vols fans prematurely started a petition calling for Pearl to replace Martin in Knoxville.
Meanwhile, Martin’s crew in Columbia is long on heart but short on elite talent. The Tigers hit the transfer portal hard last offseason. The immediate results were not good, but it takes time to develop talent and cohesion.
On Saturday, Reed-Francois watched as Pickett and Kobe Brown led the Tigers’ comeback. Coleman showed toughness — there’s that word again. He knocked down three second-half three-pointers after a suspect start.
There is no denying the Tigers stunk this year. The record ties Martin’s career worst. Mizzou’s 5-13 mark in conference play was abysmal.
Martin had avoided a losing season since his first year at Missouri State until his second and third years at Mizzou. He is one game over .500 in five seasons here with two NCAA appearances. Fans have soured on his brand of hard-nosed, offensively challenged basketball.
“I try to win at everything I do,” Martin said. “As a competitor, I’m trying to win at everything.”
Martin knows how to coach. He is widely respected around the SEC. He will rebound.
But can he and hist staff identify and develop a playmaker at point guard and a knockdown perimeter shooter who’s willing to dig in on the defensive end? For Martin’s sake, and the sake of Tigers fans everywhere, I certainly hope that’s the case.
This story was originally published March 5, 2022 at 9:08 PM with the headline "Why Mizzou’s Cuonzo Martin is still the right coach for the Tigers basketball program."
