Missouri Tigers fire men's basketball coach Cuonzo Martin after five seasons

Missouri fired head men's basketball coach Cuonzo Martin after five seasons, the school announced on Friday.

Martin took over the Tigers in 2017 after three seasons at California, with Missouri hiring him to replace Kim Anderson. The Tigers reached the NCAA tournament in his first season at the helm and then went to the tournament again in 2021, but failed to advance out of the first round in either season.

This season, Missouri went 12-21 overall and 5-13 in SEC play. The Tigers' season came to a close on Thursday with a 76-68 loss to LSU in the SEC tournament. Missouri lost seven of its last nine games to end the season.

In five seasons, Martin went 78-77 overall.

Prior to taking over at Missouri, Martin spent three seasons at California, three seasons at Tennessee and three seasons at Missouri State. He went to a Sweet 16 with Tennessee in 2014 and made an NCAA tournament appearance with California in 2016. Martin also spent eight seasons as an assistant coach at Purdue.

The Tigers now have their fourth men's basketball head coaching search since 2011. Frank Haith and Anderson each lasted just three seasons, while Martin was in Columbia for five. Potential candidates expected to be involved, sources told ESPN, include Murray State's Matt McMahon, Baylor assistant Jerome Tang, North Texas' Grant McCasland and San Francisco's Todd Golden.

The school is expected to hire Fogler Consulting to aid with the search, sources told ESPN.