COLUMBIA, Mo. - Cuonzo Martin resigned as head men's basketball coach Wednesday morning to pursue "other opportunities."
Martin's next opportunity will be as head coach of the Missouri Tigers, it was announced officially late Wednesday afternoon.
"We are thrilled that Cuonzo is returning to the Midwest and that his family will now call Columbia home," Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk said in a statement. "From the outset of our search, our goal was to find a coach who had demonstrated success, academically and on the court, while also sharing our values and who can help to reignite interest in Mizzou men's basketball among our fan base.
"I believe we found all of that and more with Cuonzo and I look forward to watching him compete for championships and postseason appearances for many years to come."
Missouri's deal with Martin is a reported a seven-year contract worth $3 million a season. He resigned his position at Cal a day after his team was eliminated in the NIT.
"Cuonzo Martin informed me this morning that he is resigning to accept a position at another school," California athletic director Mike Williams said in a statement. "We put forth our best effort to retain him, but he told me it wasn't about Cal, rather a strong desire to move home."
Martin, 45, is a native of East St. Louis, Ill., and had ties to both Missouri and Illinois' head coaching vacancies. Per his contract at Cal, Martin owes a $1.2- million buyout.
The Golden Bears went 62-39 in Martin's three seasons at Cal, including a 21-13 record this past season. Cal was a No. 1 seed in the NIT, but was eliminated by Cal State-Bakersfield 73-66 on Tuesday. Last season was Martin's lone season in the NCAA Tournament with Cal. The fourth-seeded Golden Bears were upset by 13th-seeded Hawaii 77-66 in the first round.
Prior to his time at Cal, Martin was the head coach at Tennessee from 2012-14, where the Volunteers went 63-38 in that time. Tennessee made it to the Sweet Sixteen in 2013-14. Martin also was the head coach at Missouri State from 2008-11. In 2009-10 the Bears were CIT champions and won the Missouri Valley regular season title the following year. The Bears went 61-41 in his three seasons there.
He played at Purdue from 1991-95 under coach Gene Keady and spent three seasons in the NBA. He was an assistant at Purdue from 2000-2008 before being hired at Missouri State.
Martin's 186 Division I wins would be the most of any incoming Missouri head coach. The next closest is Norm Stewart's 97 wins prior to being hired at Missouri.
Martin takes over a program that has finished last in the Southeastern Conference the last three seasons. Missouri went 26-67 and 8-46 in the SEC under Anderson, including a 7-23 overall record and 2-16 SEC mark last season.
Missouri also was found to have committed NCAA violations under former head coach Frank Haith during the 2013-14 season. The NCAA accepted Missouri's self-sanctions of vacating all 22 wins from that season, a self-imposed postseason ban during the 2015-16 season and the loss of a scholarship for the 2016-17 season and one for the upcoming 2017-18 season.
However, Martin does come to Missouri with a strong recruiting pedigree. Among his recruiting highlights is luring McDonald's All-American Jaylen Brown from Georgia to Cal, and keeping Oakland, Calif., native and fellow McDonald's All-American Ivan Rabb in-state to play for Cal. Brown was drafted by the Boston Celtics as the third overall pick of the 2016 NBA Draft.
Martin's contract will make him the highest-paid coach at Missouri, surpassing football head coach Barry Odom's $2.35 million annual salary.
Missouri will officially introduce Martin at an introductory press conference at 4 p.m. Monday at Mizzou Arena. It is open to the public, with doors opening at 3:30 p.m.
Martin replaces Kim Anderson, who was fired after three seasons.