Missouri State hired Cuonzo Martin on Wednesday, bringing back the only coach to lead its men's basketball program to a Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title more than a decade after he left Springfield for stints in power conferences.
Martin signed a five-year contract through the 2028-29 season with a base salary of $600,000 and incentives for NCAA tournament and National Invitation Tournament appearances, conference championships, coaching honors and other benchmarks.
"Zo is an experienced coach who has consistently won at the Division I level," Missouri State athletic director Kyle Moats said in a school release announcing the move. "One of the things that stands out about him is that he really wants to be at Missouri State."
Martin spent 2008-11 with the Bears, going 11-20 his first season before going 24-12 and winning the College Insider.Com Postseason Tournament in the second year, then finishing 26-9 with an appearance in the NIT in his third year. That got the former Purdue standout hired by Tennessee, where he led the Southeastern Conference's Volunteers to a pair of NIT appearances and a trip to the NCAA's Sweet 16 in 2014.
Martin then spent three years at California, and in his second season there, he took that Pac-12 program to the 2016 NCAA tourney in 2016. He then returned to the SEC, spending five seasons at Missouri.
He led the Tigers to a pair of NCAA tourney appearances, both first-round exits, and was just 78-77 overall with one winning conference record. He was fired two years ago after Missouri struggled to a 12-21 record.
Martin, who has a 264-198 career record, will be reintroduced to Missouri State fans during a news conference Monday. He replaces Dana Ford, who was fired after six seasons and a single NIT appearance.
In the release, Moats said Martin is "respected both nationally and here in our community, and he brings instant credibility to our program. His track record with our donors, our fans and our students will make this an easy transition. In my opinion, there was not a better coach out there to lead our young men."