For Cuonzo Martin’s sake as much as Mizzou’s, alas, maybe ‘it’s just time’ for change
When men’s basketball coach Mike Anderson left the University of Missouri for Arkansas after the 2011 season, Mizzou went all-in on Purdue’s Matt Painter only to essentially be jilted at the altar. The rejection was compounded by the disintegration of MU’s primary backup plan: then-Missouri State coach Cuonzo Martin, who was in demand elsewhere.
“The train was already moving with Tennessee,” Martin said in a 2017 interview at The Star.
But the train hadn’t pulled into the station, either. So through a go-between, well-informed sources said, Mizzou made an overture even after he’d signed a memorandum of understanding with Tennessee.
Already coaching in the state and having grown up in East St. Louis, Illinois, Martin understood that Columbia could be a more sensible fit than Knoxville. But fulfilling his word was imperative to Martin, who surely felt a particular commitment to the senior administrator of the Tennessee men’s basketball program who led the search: Desiree Reed-Francois — who admired Martin then and ever since.
So much so that as the athletic director at UNLV last summer she brought her son on a campus tour at Mizzou, where he committed to play for Martin as a walk-on next season. Martin, she told The Star last September, would “push Jackson not just to be a better basketball player, but to be a better man … (and) redefine his limits.”
Who could know how their careers would promptly intersect again, when weeks later then-Mizzou athletic director Jim Sterk was ousted and soon replaced by Reed-Francois … and how anguishing the situation would rapidly become?
Because Reed-Francois soon will meet with Martin to address his future under entirely different circumstances: whether this remarkable man with a languishing basketball program as it entered the Southeastern Conference Tournament should return for a sixth season.
Entering the game Wednesday against Mississippi, MU is 11-20 this season and 77-76 overall in Martin’s five seasons, with a 35-53 record in SEC play. Combined with the fact that Mizzou is just 63-115 in SEC games with no NCAA Tournament victories since joining the conference for the 2012-13 season, it’s small wonder the program also must contend with apathy.
As we await the verdict, this much we can assume.
No one wants Martin to thrive in this job more than Reed-Francois, who considers fair-mindedness a guiding principle. She also doubtless understands that part of Martin’s struggle is the integrity that prevents him from operating in the shadowy areas of recruiting that are just about literally the coin of the realm in many elite programs.
That includes a certain discomfort with the new wild west frontier of name, image and likeness deals, a development that Martin had initially hoped might be an equalizer but that for one reason or another (including tepid help around Columbia) has become another hurdle.
Moreover, Martin also hasn’t relished what the emergence of the transfer portal has done to college sports and hasn’t trafficked in that as he might if he embraced it.
You can call those flaws if you’d like.
But I consider them points of conscience and integrity for which his name will always stand.
These infinitely uphill elements of the scene is why some in the inner circle of Martin, 50, have been telling him, “It’s just time.”
Time to brace himself for what to do if MU moves on and even contemplate what I’d consider a higher calling — perhaps one in which his reassuringly honorable way and stirring story as a cancer survivor who emerged from harsh circumstances in East St. Louis can be more directly harnessed to uplift and help others.
You also can be sure of this: As much as Reed-Francois wants to see Martin succeed, the feeling is mutual and Martin understands the crossroads she faces now, too.
So when they meet, the fundamental dynamic will be two virtuous people coming to it with enormous respect for each other … while being very real about the situation.
What that will mean and how that will play out is uncertain.
Her demeanor and history, including a mind-boggling resume and impeccable reputation, indicate she doesn’t act rashly. But just because she’s in her first year on the job at MU doesn’t preclude analyzing the entire spectrum and trajectory of the program under Martin.
It’s also crucial to understand that she is fiercely dedicated to her work. That being the case, her abiding motivation has to be in fidelity to her duty on the job and the knowledge that she must first serve student-athletes while also being supportive of her coaches.
She also has to strive to appeal to the fan base while making decisions based on principle rather than the prevailing winds. And responsible stewardship obviously also includes financial considerations, both in the moment and on the horizon.
Along those lines, much has been made about Martin’s buyout, which as it’s written in his contract calls for a $6 million payment if the decision is made to oust him at this stage. That’s no small matter, of course, but that can’t fully inform any decisions.
Besides, there are believed to be ample donors and fans who would contribute now or later to this sad cause — including some whose support over the years might have been helpful to a coach who is understood not to have felt welcomed and wanted.
It’s a shame it’s come to this time of reckoning.
Because Martin is everything you’d want as the face of your program … and because we’ll always know that a key aspect of his on-court record stems from not compromising himself in ways others have.
Just the same, I’ve grudgingly come to think Mizzou needs a change because, alas, I just don’t know what to point to that says it’s going to get better.
But I’ve also come to think that Martin needs a change, too — even though like the prince who is Kim Anderson before him I have badly wanted him to succeed … and will still feel that way if he’s back.
Now, though, I’d rather see Martin grace a place where his standards and approach might fit better. Or see him seek another endeavor in which his considerable gifts are realized and appreciated.
Because he’s a gift to the world, something I’ve been lucky to witness for decades now.
Back in the mid-1990s when I was working at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, I was moved to be one of the first to speak with him about his battle with cancer. I’ll always be awed by the way he has treated issues of race, particularly in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
Seeing him in Kansas City as the 2017 keynote speaker for “High Aspirations,” a mentoring organization for African-American males, was a revelation for the way he connected. And spending a day with him in East St. Louis a few years ago was a richly rewarding experience.
Reed-Francois certainly sees all this in Martin, too, so we can only imagine the predicament this situation presents for her.
If he stays, though, you can bet it won’t be just out of sentimentality from her but out of conviction that there are better days ahead.
And if he’s soon to go, you can suppose she’ll still know it’s a profound loss in several ways … and that this righteous man will walk tall toward whatever comes next as he redefines his own limits.
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.