COLUMBIA, MO. • Kim Anderson’s dream job turned into a nightmare. Now it’s about to end. Missouri athletics director Jim Sterk announced Sunday that he asked Anderson to step down as men’s basketball coach at the end of the season. Anderson’s staff learned he was fired Saturday night and players were told Sunday, sources confirmed.
The Tigers, 7-23 this season and 26-67 under Anderson the last three years, play Auburn on Wednesday in the first round of the Southeastern Conference tournament in Nashville.
“This decision has been very difficult for me personally because of the tremendous respect I have for Kim,” Sterk said in a statement. “I know how hard he and his staff have worked to turn the program around over the last three years. However, the lack of on-court success has resulted in a significant drop in interest surrounding our program, and we could not afford for that to continue another year.
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“Kim has represented our program with character, integrity and class while dedicating himself to developing our student-athletes on and off the basketball court, and we are appreciative of his efforts and dedication to Mizzou and the Columbia community. Kim will always be a Tiger, and all of us are grateful for his contributions to our University as a student-athlete, assistant coach and head coach.”
As of Sunday, Missouri had not formally agreed to terms with a search firm but is expected to finalize a contract with Atlanta-based Parker Executive Search.
Anderson, 61, has two years left on his original five-year contract and will be owed at least $600,000 under the terms of his buyout clause. His guaranteed salary was $1.1 million, lowest in the SEC. Mizzou will have to push well beyond that figure to lure a proven replacement.
Sterk is expected to consider a handful of sitting head coaches at major conference schools. Multiple sources have mentioned Indiana’s Tom Crean, California’s Cuonzo Martin, SLU’s Travis Ford, Baylor’s Scott Drew and USC’s Andy Enfield as potential targets. Indiana, coming off a Big Ten championship last year, stumbled badly under Crean this season at 17-14 and 10th place in the Big Ten, leading to speculation Indiana could fire him.
Other possibilities include Butler’s Chris Holtmann, Oklahoma State’s Brad Underwood, South Carolina’s Frank Martin and Virginia Tech’s Buzz Williams. If Sterk were to consider mid-major conference coaches, Illinois State’s Dan Muller and UNC-Wilmington’s Kevin Keatts could surface as targets. At one time multiple influential Mizzou donors backed Washington’s Lorenzo Romar for the job, sources said, but it’s unclear if he’s still a serious option. Romar could deliver prized recruit and Columbia native Michael Porter Jr., who signed with Washington last fall, but his candidacy might have plunged with the Huskies’ woeful season.
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“Missouri has a rich men’s basketball tradition and the resources necessary to compete at the highest level,” Sterk said. “We expect to compete for Southeastern Conference championships, consistently play in the postseason and continue to represent Mizzou the right way on and off the court.
“A national search will begin immediately to identify and recruit the very best person to lead Mizzou Basketball into the future and we will utilize the services of a search consultant to assist in the identification and evaluation of candidates who are capable of returning our program to national prominence.”
Anderson, a Sedalia, Mo., native, former Big Eight player of the year at Mizzou and longtime assistant coach under Norm Stewart, coached his final regular-season game for the Tigers on Saturday, an 89-78 loss at Auburn. The Tigers finished last in the SEC for the third straight season at 2-16. Anderson’s career winning percentage (.280) is the lowest in team history.
Passed over for Mizzou’s head-coaching job in 1999 when Stewart retired, Anderson got a second chance to lead his alma mater in 2014 when Frank Haith left for Tulsa. Anderson had just won the Division II national championship in his 12th season at Central Missouri, and after MU couldn’t land Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall, the focus shifted to Anderson.
A look back at the Tigers' three years under Anderson's watch.
“Missouri is a special institution to my family and I, and I am grateful for having had the opportunity to serve as the head coach at my alma mater,” Anderson said. “While we have faced significant challenges over the last three years and have been unable to achieve the on-court results everyone would have liked, I do believe we have been able to stabilize the program while watching our players become responsible young men on and off the court.
“I would especially like to thank my staff and players who have worked so hard to turn this program around. I’m proud of the growth I’ve seen in our players academically, athletically and socially since their arrival on campus, and feel very good about our efforts to serve Columbia, the University and the State of Missouri through impactful events and organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club, Tigers on the Prowl, Rally for Rhyan and the University of Missouri Children’s Hospital.”
Anderson inherited a program coming off a 23-win season and NIT appearance but in worse shape internally than he first realized. When he accepted the job three years ago, MU’s administration didn’t tell Anderson the school was under NCAA investigation for potential violations during the Haith years. The school later self-imposed a 2016 postseason ban and scholarship reductions. The program comes off NCAA probation in August.
While Mizzou’s Academic Progress Rate improved during Anderson’s regime, his roster was in flux for three years as 13 scholarship players left the team. In Anderson’s first season, seven of 11 scholarship players were disciplined by some measure, resulting in 24 games lost to suspensions.
By the summer of 2016, the roster was composed exclusively of players Anderson recruited and the off-court troubles disappeared. But the on-court problems got worse. Under Anderson, the Tigers went 0-30 in road games the last three seasons and beat only two teams away from Mizzou Arena in neutral-site games.