Cuonzo Martin reportedly fired as Mizzou head coach after 5 seasons

Cuonzo Martin is reportedly out as Missouri’s head basketball coach. Both local and national reporters are saying Martin is done at Mizzou after 5 seasons as the head coach of the Tigers.

Martin, an East St. Louis, Illinois native, was hired on March 20, 2017. The Tigers went 20-13 in the 2017-18 season, Year 1 of the Martin era, and reached the NCAA Tournament. It turned out to be MU’s best finish under Martin. In each of the next 2 seasons, Mizzou finished with a losing record (15-17 in 2018-19; 15-16 in 2019-20). Last season, the Tigers went 16-10, making the first round of the NCAA Tournament again.

The 2021-22 Tigers, however, would have needed to win the SEC Tournament to make the Big Dance. Mizzou went 1-1 in the conference tournament, defeating Ole Miss 72-60 in Round 1 and falling to LSU 76-68 in Round 2. MU finished with a 12-21 overall record.

Martin has been a head coach since 2008, getting his start at Missouri State. He coached at Tennessee for 3 seasons (2011-to-2014), leading the Volunteers to a 63-41 record. Martin was at Cal from 2014-to-2017, where he went 62-39 as the head coach.

Sources: Missouri has parted ways with Cuonzo Martin.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 11, 2022

BREAKING: Cuonzo Martin will not return next season as the basketball coach at Missouri. Story coming at @STLToday.

— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) March 11, 2022

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.