Cuonzo Martin Named Head Coach at Missouri State

By Trashtalk Superstar

Yesterday, Missouri State announced that Cuonzo Martin has been hired as the new men's head basketball coach. Prior to his hiring at Missouri State, Martin spent eight years at Purdue, where he served as the Associate Head Basketball Coach. Martin played for Gene Keady at Purdue from 1991-95.

Cuonzo Martin's arrival at Missouri State comes an important juncture in time for the Bears' basketball program. As Missouri State's press release states:

"Martin becomes the 16th head coach in the history of Missouri State, the 27th winningest NCAA Division I program in America. He will take over the reins of the program in time for the 100th anniversary of Missouri State’s basketball program and will inaugurate the Bears’ move into the $67 million 11,000-seat JQH Arena for the 2008-09 season."

Edit:

Earlier in the month, Drive and Dish noted that Coaching News Online was floating a rumor about Illinois Head Basketball Coach Bruce Weber's purported interest in the Missouri State job. The "rumors" section at Coaching News Online reported that Bruce Weber had been talking to Missouri State about the school's head coaching job.

While there turned out to be no truth to the rumor that Bruce Weber was headed to Missouri State, it's probably true that Bruce Weber was talking to Missouri State about their head coaching job. Weber spent eighteen years as an assistant to Gene Keady at Purdue. He coached Cuonzo Martin at Purdue and maintained frequent contact with Martin while Martin was coaching at Purdue.

It appears likely that Missouri State talked to Weber on at least a few occasions, in order to get Weber's opinion on Martin. Bruce Weber is highly respected in coaching circles and among Athletic Directors at NCAA institutions. Missouri State probably relied on him as a reference for Cuonzo Martin.