When interviewing to return as Missouri State's basketball coach, Cuonzo Martin was made aware that the school was exploring the idea of changing conferences.
About a month and a half after Martin accepted the job, Missouri State announced it was leaving the Missouri Valley Conference for Conference USA beginning with the 2025-26 season.
At what has traditionally been a basketball school, Missouri State made the move with football in mind with television and bowl revenue being new streams the school hadn't had before. It will also find additional exposure with more nationally televised football games and the chance to compete for bowl games in the future.
The strength of CUSA as a men's basketball league has been questioned. It's not the Conference USA that had national-championship-contending teams like Louisville and Memphis back in the day. It's a conference that hasn't been a multi-bid league since 2012.
Martin doesn't see a problem with it.
"Basketball is basketball," Martin said. "It's not as if we're leaving a league where we're getting four and five teams in the tournament every year. Financially, the numbers say it's a better move. And if it's a football move or whatever? Great. I enjoy watching football. I think anytime we can have great Saturdays with football, I'm all for it because I enjoy being entertained and it helps us in recruiting and all this. So I look forward to it."
Martin said he didn't adjust how he recruits knowing that he was heading into a new league during the second year of his contract. He said he's always going to try to get the best players he can get and he's going to try and find those who will impose their will.
What may change moving forward a little bit is where Missouri State recruits. He can see the Bears getting more into Texas because there are multiple Texas teams in CUSA including Sam Houston and UTEP. The staff has already had conversations about getting more into Texas, among other states, trying to tap into places where Missouri State will be more recognizable.
"One thing my college coach always said was to expect the unexpected," Martin said. "He used to say all the time and we players didn't really grasp it. We heard it. But as you get older, you understand to expect the unexpected. That's life. These changes are all a part of it. At the end of the day, you have 13, 16, 17 guys on your team and each one of them is still trying to be the best version of themselves every day. That's all that matters."
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