Cuonzo Martin entered Stephen F. Austin’s locker room to speak with them after a tough loss, and the video is amazing.
In a year filled with scandals and pay-to-play coach firings, at the other end of the spectrum, the Missouri Tigers’ Cuonzo Martin is the epitome of class when it comes to college basketball coaches.
After Stephen F. Austin lost to Missouri in a tough game by just one point, Tigers’ head coach Martin did something a bit out of the ordinary – he visited the opposing locker room.
This is just an amazing moment for college basketball fans to be able to witness.
It was a tough loss in Columbia, but Mizzou head coach @CuonzoMartin did something he had never done in his coaching career - enter an opponents locker room. @MizzouHoops, you’ve got the epitome of class leading you. Maybe we’ll see you in March. #AxeEm pic.twitter.com/86IOt2m9D9
— SFA Men’s Basketball (@SFA_MBB) December 20, 2017
Martin is one of the classiest coaches in all of college basketball, and this is just further proof of that.
I’m not just saying this from afar, either. I attended the University of Tennessee when Martin was the head coach of the program. I was in the front row for every game as fans who weren’t at the games signed petitions calling for his firing.
You can hate his coaching and you can criticize him leaving multiple programs, but there are few better people than Martin in all of college basketball. It’s why he consistently hires top recruits wherever he goes and his teams tend to love him.
I mean, when you leave a program and the players congratulate you, that’s saying a lot about the respect you bring with you on an everyday basis.
I’m extremely glad someone took this video, and we were able to witness this awesome moment.