news

Missouri State basketball coach Cuonzo Martin on AD search

VaselineJuly 4, 2024

0 2 minutes read

Missouri State basketball coach Cuonzo Martin on AD search

Cuonzo Martin is in a familiar position just months after returning as head coach of Missouri State’s basketball team.

Every time Martin became a head coach, whether it was his first stint at Missouri State or his time at Tennessee, California or Mizzou, he was faced with a change in athletic director.

In 2009, Bill Rowe retired before Missouri State hired Kyle Moats. Most recently, while coaching at Mizzou, Jim Sterk stepped down before hiring Desiree Reed-Francois, who fired Martin a year later.

Martin now steps into the head coaching job at Missouri State, which has no athletic director. Moats leaves for Eastern Kentucky less than three months after he gave the coach a five-year, $3.2 million guaranteed contract.

Moats will begin at EKU on July 1. After leading Missouri State to a spot in Conference USA ahead of the 2025-26 season, Moats will move to Kentucky to work with his son, who was already on the EKU staff as senior associate AD for compliance and student success.

More: Missouri State Basketball’s Rise Was Worse Than You Thought. Here’s Why

“It’s a great move, in my opinion, based on what he said. His family,” Martin said. “You can’t beat that. Anytime you get the opportunity to move and your family is involved, not only with you, but in the workplace, it’s incredible. I’m so happy for his family and I think they’re going to be great and he’s going to do great things.”

Martin feels more confident with his current athletic director change than he did with his previous one. The school said it hopes to have a new AD in place by late July or early August, with Brent Dunn, MSU’s vice president for university advancement, leading the search for Moats’ replacement. A search committee is expected to include administrators, coaches, student-athletes and community members.

“I don’t really get into that stuff because my job is the job I have to do and I’ve been around the block before,” Martin said. “I’ll give them my opinion if someone asks me. My job is to do my job. At 52, I understand how it goes. Everywhere I’ve been, whether it’s been a year or six months ago, there’s a new AD. Everywhere I’ve been, there’s a new president. That’s part of it. It’s easy for me. It’s just part of the job in sports. I just focus on these players in this program.”

If anyone were to ask Martin what he expected from a new boss, the coach would reply that he wanted someone who really wanted to work at Missouri State and was completely committed to the job.

More: A look at the 2024-25 Missouri State men’s basketball team roster under head coach Cuonzo Martin

Martin said Missouri State has done a great job building the campus and the community infrastructure. In the years he’s been away from MSU since leading the Bears to a Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title in 2011, he said he thinks the community has grown and he’d like to see that pace continue. He wants his next boss to understand the importance of the track and the importance of the athletic program in the community.

“When you’re an athletic director, you’re the CEO of any program,” Martin said. “That means a lot. You’ve got to have a great team around you. No coach is good without great assistants, so I think your whole team has to be good, and whoever that is, he or she, we have to give them time to implement their style, whatever they want to do and how they go about their business.

“I’m happy for both sides because again, sometimes change is good. I think change is good for Kyle Moats, who said it himself, so it’s probably good for everyone.”

VaselineJuly 4, 2024

0 2 minutes read

Vaseline

Related Articles

Work accident in the forest: man (46) in danger of death

PGA Tour suspends play due to storms; Scottie Scheffler leads by 4

Fantasy Basketball: One Burning Question Ahead of Draft Season

Bill Belichick could be the next coach, open CB tryout