We also have the nationwide coaching carousel that cranked up. Tom Crean was fired from Indiana yesterday after nine season, as was Lorenzo Romar after 15 seasons at Washington. However, the biggest move was Cuonzo Martin leaving Cal to return home, and coach the Missouri Tigers.
Romar and Crean had subpar years for their respective programs, but at least Crean got the Hoosiers into the NIT. Martin had a winning record win all three campaign, and Cal was one of the last four teams left out of March Madness. The ironic aspect is that Martin signed a four year contract extension to stay at Berkeley on October 26. Less than four months later he is taking over in Columbia. Crean is already garnering interest from LSU, and Romar’s name is matching up with rumors of jumping to the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers.
Crean going from IU to LSU is a step back. For Martin, this is a lateral move at worst. Since joining the SEC, Missouri has struggled to figure out exactly where they fit in amongst the landscape of the NCAA’s two largest moneymakers. Always falling short of being in the conversation of the Texas’ and Oklahoma’s in the Big 12, the Tigers have held their own in football, up until the transition from Gary Pinkell to Barry Odom as head coach.
Martin, 45, is a resident of East St. Louis, Illinois, and was a defensive standout from 1991-95 at Purdue. The Boilermakers won back-to-back Big Ten titles in 1994 and 1995, leading Martin to be a second-round pick of the Atlanta Hawks in the 1995 NBA Draft. Martin played two seasons in the NBA, one with the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies, and part of a second with the Milwaukee Bucks, before playing overseas in 1998. Martin asked to be sent home, and was later diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Martin returned to Purdue as an assistant to the legendary Gene Keady in 2000, and took his first head coaching job at Missouri State after the 2008 postseason.
The Martin-led Bears won the 2010 CIT tournament, and advanced to the second round of the NIT in 2011. The one thing you cannot say about Martin is his inability to get to the postseason. In seven of his first nine head coaching years between Missouri State, Tennessee, and Cal, his squad has been to one of the three postseason tournaments seven times. Romar had 10 with Washington, and Crean five with Indiana. Romar is approaching 60 (58), and Crean is another hot commodity whose name always comes up when a marquee job opens up.
For Athletic Director Jim Sterk, this was a no-brainer. Missouri has been ridiculed with scandal for the past few seasons. Remember that Martin left Cal to go to Mizzou...he wasn’t fired like Romar and Crean were. Martin will bring the Tigers back to relevance in the SEC, something they were knocking on the door of before the Frank Haith violations began to surface in 2014.
At this point, anything would be better than the job Kim Anderson did after taking over for Haith. Three years at the helm, and the most victories the Tigers posted in a season were 10 (2015-16). The Tigers were 8-46 in conference play under Anderson, who was the hot commodity Division II coach to jump to I-A.
Cal entered this season ranked under Martin, and were lost in the shuffle of a stacked Pac 12. The leash he should be given in Columbia should be plenty long, especially if it gets the Tigers back to the Big Dance in the coming years.
-JC24