Missouri fires coach Kim Anderson after three seasons

03/05/2017 by PeekYou Team Comments

Kim Anderson is out as Missouri’s basketball coach, the school announced Sunday. Athletic director Jim Sterk said he asked Anderson to step down.

“This decision has been very difficult for me personally because of the tremendous respect I have for Kim,” Sterk said in the 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.

“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,” he added. “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.”

Anderson took over a program in disarray after leading Central Missouri to the Division II national championship, but he went just 26-67 with the Tigers. That included a 7-23 mark this season.

Their loss to Auburn in their regular-season finale Saturday was the program-record 35th consecutive road defeat. It left the Tigers 2-16 in the SEC, tying a program and conference record for losses.

Anderson was a conference player of the year for Missouri before spending two stints as Norm Stewart’s assistant coach. But despite his history with the Tigers, he never seemed to be embraced by an agitated fan base weary after the shaky tenures of Quin Snyder, Mike Anderson and Frank Haith.