Cuonzo LaMar Martin (born September 23, 1971) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach and former player who is in his second tenure as the head men's basketball coach at

Missouri State University Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second-largest u ...

. He had held that same position from 2008 to 2011. He is the former head coach at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, and the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

High school

Playing alongside

LaPhonso Ellis LaPhonso Darnell Ellis (born May 5, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player and college basketball analyst. He played for 11 years in the National Basketball Association after starring at Notre Dame. He worked as a broadcaster ...

as a sophomore and junior, Martin played on two state championship teams for Lincoln High in his native

East St. Louis, Illinois East St. Louis, also known as ESTL, is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. It is directly across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis, Missouri, and the Gateway Arch National Park. East St. Louis is in the Metro East ...

. Through his 3 years in the IHSA tournament, Martin scored 198 points and grabbed 111 rebounds in 12 games. In 2007, Martin and Ellis were voted among the "

100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) celebrated 100 years of the IHSA State Tournament in the 2006-07 season. A list of "100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament" was assembled on December 14, 2005. Throughout the state, 281 in ...

," recognizing their superior performance in their appearances in the tournament.

College career

Cuonzo Martin attended

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, where he played for

Gene Keady Lloyd Eugene Keady (born May 21, 1936) is an American Hall of Fame basketball coach. He is best known for his 25 years serving as the head men's basketball coach at Purdue University in Indiana. In his tenure leading the Boilermakers from 1980 t ...

and alongside

Wooden Award The John R. Wooden Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's and women's college basketball players. The Wooden Award program consists of the men's and women's player of the year awards, the Legends of Coaching Award, and rec ...

winner

Glenn Robinson Glenn Alan Robinson Jr. (born January 10, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "Big Dog" and "the Chosen One", he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1994 to 2005 for the Milwaukee Bucks, Atl ...

. The 6'6", 215 lb guard/forward helped lead the

Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball The Purdue Boilermakers basketball team is a men's college basketball program that competes in NCAA Division I and is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference. Purdue basketball has the most Big Ten regular season championships with 26 confer ...

team to back-to-back

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

Titles in 1994 and 1995 and an

Elite Eight In the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA men's Division I basketball championship or the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, NCAA women's Division I basketball championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight t ...

appearance. Martin held future NBA players

Shawn Respert Shawn Christopher Respert (born February 6, 1972) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He attended Bishop Borgess High School, and he came to prominence while playing college basketball at Michigan State. He played pro ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

Michael Finley Michael Howard Finley (born March 6, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player who is the assistant general manager and vice president of player personnel for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He ...

to season lows in scoring as a senior. On March 24, 1994, Martin set a school record with the most three-pointers made in a game, making 8 of 13 threes against

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

in a Sweet Sixteen, later broken by

Carsen Edwards Carsen Cade Edwards (born March 12, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for FC Bayern Munich (basketball), Bayern Munich of the German Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the Purdue B ...

(3/23/19 Purdue vs Villanova). Known as the team's defensive stopper, he was also deadly beyond the arc. He left Purdue with the fourth most three-point shots made with 179, behind

Jaraan Cornell Jaraan V. Cornell (November 22, 1976 – June 6, 2025) was an American basketball player. He played college basketball for the Purdue Boilermakers. High school career Born and raised in South Bend, Indiana, Cornell attended Clay High School. P ...

's 242 record, while holding the record for the highest career three-point shooting with .451 accuracy. Martin was awarded ''First Team All-Big Ten'' honors his Senior season, averaging 18.4 points a game. He currently holds another school record for most consecutive games played with 137 straight throughout his career at Purdue.

Professional career

Martin was selected by the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

as the 57th pick in the 2nd round of the

1995 NBA draft The 1995 NBA draft took place on June 28, 1995, at SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It marked the first NBA draft to be held outside the United States and was the first draft for the two Canadian expansion teams that were added for 1995–96 ...

. He played in only seven career NBA games for the 1995–96

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

Vancouver Grizzlies The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. The Grizzlies competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Midwest Division (NBA), Midwest Division of the Western Conference ( ...

and the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

where he re-joined his college teammate and the number one pick in the 1994 NBA Draft

during the 1996–97 season. He also played professionally in the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

(CBA) for the

Grand Rapids Mackers The Michigan Mayhem were a minor league professional basketball team based in Muskegon, Michigan, that competed in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA). In the CBA's 2004–2005 season, the Mayhem finished third in the league's Eastern Conf ...

during the 1995–96 season and

Grand Rapids Hoops The Grand Rapids Hoops were a basketball team that played in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their first season was in 1989 and their final season was in 2003. Professional basketball later returned to ...

during the 1996–97 and 1998–99 seasons. He was selected to the All-CBA Second Team in 1997 and All-Rookie First Team in 1996. He played for Ciro Avellino of Italian

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

for the 1997–98 season. Martin was leading the Italian team in scoring. In November 1997, Martin asked to be sent home, due to various symptoms. He was diagnosed with

non-Hodgkin lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tiredn ...

. Martin began aggressive treatments and chemotherapy and the

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

went into remission. Martin returned to Purdue to finish his degree. After he graduated,

hired Martin as an assistant coach in 2000. The Cuonzo Martin Challenge Award to help raise funds for cancer research was established in his honor and he has since been cancer-free.

Coaching career

Purdue

After one year as an assistant coach at

West Lafayette High School West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School (also informally known as West Side High School or simply West Side) is the only high school within the West Lafayette city limits, and is administered by the West Lafayette Community School Corporation. ...

, Martin returned to Purdue in 2000 to be an assistant coach under his former coach

and former teammate,

Matt Painter Matthew Curtis Painter (born August 27, 1970) is an American basketball coach and former player, who is the current and 19th head coach of the Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball, Purdue Boilermakers, serving in that role since 2005. He played ...

. He helped the Boilers to an

appearance and three

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Second Round appearances, along with an overall 153–129 record during his eight seasons on the Purdue bench. He was named associate head coach for the 2007–08 season.

Missouri State

After eight seasons at Purdue, Martin accepted the head coaching position at Missouri State University on March 25, 2008. He replaced

Barry Hinson Barry Douglas Hinson (born May 12, 1961) is an American college basketball coach and most recently was the head coach of the Southern Illinois Salukis men's basketball team (SIU). He was born in Marlow, Oklahoma. Before SIU he was the Director o ...

. After falling to Auburn in the season opener, Martin had his first head coaching win over

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula of the United States, U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said t ...

on the road. Martin's Bears won their first game at their new

JQH Arena Great Southern Bank Arena (originally known as JQH Arena) is an indoor arena in Springfield, Missouri. The arena opened in 2008. It is located on the campus of Missouri State University and is the home of the Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears ba ...

home, beating

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

from the SEC. They wrapped up the pre-conference season with a 7–4 record. Martin's Bears headed into conference play with only 3 players appearing in every game, due to a number of injuries. They lost their first conference game in overtime against an undefeated

Illinois State Illinois State University (ISU) is a public research university in Normal, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University and is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching ...

. His Bears finished the season with an 11–20 record. Following his first season as head coach, Martin's top 25 RPI-ranked Bears started the 2009–10 season with a 10–0 start. Missouri State averaged a 10+ margin in points per game coming into Missouri Valley Conference play. Cuonzo's squad finished seventh in conference play with a 20–12 record and accepted a bid to the CIT tournament, which they ended up winning to finish the season with a record of 24–12. In Coach Martin's third year at Missouri State, the team won their first regular season Missouri Valley Men's Basketball title and entered the

Arch Madness The State Farm Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament, commonly called Arch Madness, is an annual basketball tournament which features the men's basketball teams of each of the Missouri Valley Conference member universities. The ...

conference tournament as the #1 seed. After reaching the finals, they lost to the Indiana State Sycamores. Although having an RPI of 44, the team was not selected as an at-large team to the 2011 NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. They accepted a bid to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

, beating Murray State University at home and then losing to Miami (FL) away in the 2nd round. The team ended the season with a 26–9 record.

Tennessee

On March 27, 2011, after three seasons at Missouri State, Martin was hired as the head coach of the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

. In three seasons as head coach, Martin led the Volunteers to two NITs and to the 2014 NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen. After a slow start to the 2013–14 season, several fans began openly campaigning to have Martin replaced with his predecessor,

Bruce Pearl Bruce Alan Pearl (born March 18, 1960) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the Auburn Tigers men's basketball team, where he is the school's all time leader in wins. He previously served in the same position ...

, who was about to finish serving a

show-cause penalty In the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), a show-cause penalty is an administrative punishment ordering that any NCAA penalties imposed on a coach found to have committed major rules violations will stay in effect against that coach ...

. An online petition urging athletic director Dave Hart Jr. to rehire Pearl drew 40,000 signatures. Later, Martin said that several of his own players were displeased with the way fans treated him.

California

On April 15, 2014, Martin was hired as the head coach of the

men's basketball team. In 2015–16, his second season, the Bears were led by freshman All-Americans

Jaylen Brown Jaylen Marselles Brown (born October 24, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one year of college basketball for the California Golden Bears and wa ...

and

Ivan Rabb Ivan Charles Rabb Jr. (born February 4, 1997) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the California Golden Bears. Growing up in California, he was named the top high school player in the state as a ...

to a 23-win regular season and a number 4 seed in the South Region of the

NCAA tournament NCAA tournament may refer to a number of tournaments organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association: Men's sports *NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, the most common usage of this term *NCAA Division II men's basketball tourn ...

, where they lost in the first round. Cal began the season ranked in the top 25 but fell out and resurfaced ranked 25th in early March after losing only one game in February, to #18 Arizona by 3 points. On October 25, 2016, Martin agreed to a contract extension through the 2020–21 season. Following Cal's loss in the first round of the

2017 National Invitation Tournament The 2017 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2017 NCAA tournament. The annual tournament was played on campus sites in the first three round ...

, Martin announced his resignation as head coach on March 15, 2017. Martin left for Missouri, with Cal facing the "likelihood of a depleted roster (the) next season".

Missouri

On March 15, 2017, the same day as his Cal resignation, Martin was hired as the head coach of the

men's basketball team. On March 24, 2017, Martin received the commitment of top recruit and Missouri native

Michael Porter Jr. Michael Lamar Porter Jr. (born June 29, 1998), also known as "MPJ", is an American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Missouri Tigers. Porter ...

, also adding his father, Michael Porter Sr., to his coaching staff. He was

released Released may refer to: * Released (Jade Warrior album), ''Released'' (Jade Warrior album), 1971 * Released (Patti LaBelle album), ''Released'' (Patti LaBelle album), 1980 * ''Released: 1985–1995'', an album by Kronos Quartet, 1995 * ''Released'' ...

from his position on March 11, 2022, after finishing 78–77 overall and reaching two NCAA Tournaments. On March 27, 2024, it was publicly announced that Martin would return to Missouri State as the men's basketball head coach https://missouristatebears.com/news/2024/3/27/mens-basketball-martin-returns-to-lead-basketball-bears.aspx

Coaching notes

Cuonzo Martin became the fifth Division I head coach to come out of the Gene Keady coaching tree, following Bruce Weber,

Steve Lavin Stephen Michael Lavin (born September 4, 1964) is an American college basketball coach and former broadcaster who is the head coach of the San Diego Toreros men's basketball team at the University of San Diego (USD). He previously served as head ...

Kevin Stallings Kevin Eugene Stallings (born October 1, 1960) is an American former basketball coach, who formerly served as the head coach at Illinois State University, Vanderbilt University and the University of Pittsburgh. He was an assistant coach at Purdue ...

, and

Linc Darner Linc Mitchel Darner (born December 12, 1970) is an American basketball coach and former men's basketball coach of the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay Green Bay Phoenix men's basketball, Phoenix. Darner previously spent nine seasons as the he ...

. In the 2016 season, Martin (Cal), Painter (Purdue), and Stallings (Vandy) each entered the season ranked.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Missouri Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Cuonzo 1971 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen African-American basketball coaches American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks draft picks Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players from St. Clair County, Illinois California Golden Bears men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Grand Rapids Mackers players High school basketball coaches in Indiana Milwaukee Bucks players Missouri State Bears basketball coaches Missouri Tigers men's basketball coaches Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball coaches Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball players Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from East St. Louis, Illinois Tennessee Volunteers basketball coaches Vancouver Grizzlies players