Missouri Basketball: Kim Anderson steps down as Tigers head coach
Missouri basketball will be searching for a new head coach after Kim Anderson was forced to step down.
With their program heading in the improper direction due to transfers and poor play on the court, the Missouri Tigers have opted to make a change at head coach.
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Mizzou asked three-year head coach Kim Anderson to step down from his position at the season’s end. The 61-year-old will coach the team during the upcoming SEC Tournament this week but will finish his stint in Columbia with a 26-65 record, including just a single year with double digit wins.
"This decision has been very difficult for me personally because of the tremendous respect I have for Kim,” athletic director Jim Sterk said in a statement. “I know how hard he and his staff have worked to turn the program around over the last three years, however, the lack of on-court success has resulted in a significant drop in interest surrounding our program, and we could not afford for that to continue another year.”“Missouri is a special institution to my family and I, and I am grateful for having had the opportunity to serve as the head coach at my alma mater,” Anderson said in the statement. “While we have faced significant challenges over the last three years and been unable to achieve the on-court results everyone would have liked, I do believe we have been able to stabilize the program while watching our players become responsible young men on and off the court.”"
It’s fairly obvious as to why Anderson was asked to step down: the Tigers have a passionate fan base who are sick of sitting in the SEC basement. This isn’t the ACC, Big 12 or even the Big Ten. Beyond Kentucky and maybe Florida, this league is wide open for the taking. A solid hire could put the Tigers back in the upper half of the league in a matter of just a couple of years.
With Lorenzo Romar staying in Washington (he would’ve been a solid candidate given his background at Saint Louis), Cuonzo Martin seems to be in a strong position to potentially land in Columbia.
Martin grew up in the Midwest and held positions as an assistant at West Lafayette High School and Purdue, and as a head coach at Missouri State and Tennessee. He is familiar with the recruiting pool in that area and has already gotten his feet wet in the SEC.
Cal has a solid recruiting class for 2017, will return Charlie Moore and will add Kentucky transfer Marcus Lee, but the Golden Bears don’t have a single top 100 talent in their class and will likely lose both Jabari Bird and Ivan Rabb. That could make Martin even more intrigued by the Missouri job.
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But that doesn’t mean Martin is a lock to land the position. There will be a lot of big name head coaches that will be interested in Mizzou based on the talent pool, fan base and the fact that the SEC is a Power 5 conference. Expect the Tigers to go with a big name, or at least a bigger name than the upstart mid-major coaches that will take over the coaching carousel in a week.