Cuonzo Martin’s motivation for coming to Mizzou: ‘Put our youth first’

Cuonzo Martin prefers books over stories about himself, so he said he will wait to read the lengthy profile of him in the most recent issue of Sports Illustrated.

“I have the Sports Illustrated,” Missouri’s basketball coach said on Tuesday, speaking to reporters for the first time since the story went online. “Maybe as I get older, I’ll read it.”

The story by S.L. Price dissects why Martin left Cal for the Mizzou job. In the story, the coach and those close to him say part of the reason was Martin, a black man from East St. Louis, Ill., wants to be someone people can look up to while the state of Missouri remains at the center of discussions about racial tensions in America.

MU continues to deal with fallout from the football team boycott and student protests that rocked the university in November 2015. In 2017, the NAACP issued a travel advisory for Missouri, a warning about discrimination and racist attacks that have occured in the state.

“I think the most important thing is I took the job because it is a tremendous opportunity, and not so much to be close to home,” Martin told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s a great university, and I wanted to be a part of it — and not so much because of what took place back in ’15. It’s a great opportunity first and foremost.”

“We have to give back,” he added, changing his focus toward the point of the Sports Illustrated story. “I said it, and I don’t know if it’s in the article, but I think in everything we do, if we put our youth first in the decisions we make … we’ll have a great country. I think that’s the most important thing, when you put youth first and put all our differences aside.”

Martin said America is an “exceptional” country but it can be where it is “supposed to be when we decide we have a ways to go.”

The story was published in print days before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Martin called that “a blessing.” He said he wants to “blaze a trail” for “all people” when he is finished coaching basketball. He has already established a charity called Bonded Together in East St. Louis with his brother, Dale, and some of his childhood friends. The charity has given out scholarships to children in the city.

“I will never be at that level (of) Martin Luther King, but I pray to God I can move into that area one day when I’m done doing this,” Martin said. “ … I think that’s very important. I think we all in this room should think the same way. Anytime our youth struggle, then we all struggle, and we’ll pay for it at some point.”

Facing his old team

Martin will soon do something he has never donein his nine-plus years as a head coach: He will face off against a program he used to lead.

Martin coached the Tennessee Volunteers, the team Mizzou plays host to Wednesday, during 2011-2014.

He has never publicly disparaged Tennessee, despite his messy separation from the school, and he said he will treat this as just another conference game.

During his final season coaching the Volunteers, a petition calling for his removal garnered nearly 40,000 signatures. Fans clamored for his predecessor, Bruce Pearl, who now coaches at Auburn and led the Volunteers into a NCAA scandal before Martin became Tennessee’s coach.

“Fans have the right to be fans,” Martin said. “However you want to be a fan, that’s your choice to be a fan. I’m not telling you how to be a fan. My job is to do my job. In all of that as a father, a husband, a leader of young men, that was the most important thing: navigating our guys through that.”

During that final season, as speculation about his job security ramped up, Martin led the Volunteers to the NCAA Sweet 16. Then he left for Cal.

He said limiting distractions for his players that season was “strange.”

The Volunteers are one of the Southeastern Conference’s surprises this season. They are ranked No. 21 in the country and have won three straight conference games, including one at home against Kentucky.

Mizzou forward Kevin Puryear said Tennessee forwards Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield, two physical players, are “one of the better one-two punches” in the SEC. They could pose a challenge for freshmen forwards Jontay Porter and Jeremiah Tilmon, who have each collected 17 personal fouls through four conference games.

“That’s 34 fouls between the two of them, and I can’t think of one that really impacted the game in a positive way,” Martin said. “ … I don’t think there’s one foul they made on the floor that you say, ‘He needed to make that foul to stop them from doing this.’ ”

Riding his veterans

In conference play, Mizzou’s most veteran players, senior forward Jordan Barnett and graduate transfer Kassius Robertson, are averaging 37 and 36.2 minutes per game, respectively.

Martin said he would like to rest both of them more, but he doesn’t think he can. They are Missouri’s leading scorers this season, and the Tigers are already thinner than expected without freshmen Michael Porter Jr. and Blake Harris.

“You have what you have,” Martin said. “It seems like Jordan doesn’t get tired. … I don’t think I’ve ever seen the guy sweat.”

This story was originally published January 16, 2018 at 6:30 PM with the headline "Cuonzo Martin’s motivation for coming to Mizzou: ‘Put our youth first’."