Kent Williams Is New Assistant Coach At Missouri State
By Randy Olson-AreaSports.net

Kent Williams will again be sporting the color Maroon in Missouri Valley Conference basketball, except this time it won’t be for his alma mater of SIU. Williams has been selected as one of three full-time Assistant Coaches at Missouri State University in Springfield by newly named head coach, Cuonzo Martin.

Martin was hired as the new Head coach of the Bears this week to replace Barry Hinson, and brings southern Illinois ties with him from his own playing days at East St. Louis Lincoln, in addition to br inging Williams along as one of his Assistant Coaches. Williams had a storybook career at both Mount Vernon High School and at SIU, finishing his Saluki career as the second all-time leading scorer. He has been the Director of Basketball Operations at Purdue for the past three seasons under Coach Matt Painter, but interacted with Cuonzo on a daily basis. “I’m very excited to get the opportunity to be working along side Cuonzo,” said Williams. “I’ve seen how hard he works at Purdue during the last three years and I feel very fortunate to be a part of his coaching staff at Missouri State, it’s a great opportunity for me.”

Martin has been an assistant coach at Purdue for nine years, serving under former coach Gene Keady, and most recently under current coach, Matt Painter. He was also an outstanding player at Purdue and went to play a few years in the NBA following his career in a Boilermakers uniform. “Coach Martin had a great playing career and was always known for his defense,” said Williams. “His approach to defense will be one of the many strengths he will bring to Missouri State as their new head coach.”

Martin was a member of the 1988 and 1989 Class AA State Champion Tigers of East St. Louis Lincoln. He was a teammate of LaPhonso Ellis and they faced Mount Vernon in the Super-Sectional game at Carbondale during their run. They also beat Centralia in one of the other Super-Sectional games. Many consider Martin to be partially responsible for preventing Mount Vernon from hanging another State Tournament banner in Changnon Gym.  Doug Creel was an assistant coach for the Rams under Lee Emery at the time and remembers Cuonzo Martin as a high school player.  "Martin was a great athlete and played the point on the press," said Creel.  "He went on to become a better than expected player at Purdue and I'm sure it was because of his work ethic."

  

Williams calls his new coaching position at Missouri State a dream come true. “This is what I’ve always wanted to do, get on the floor with the players and coach,” said Williams. “I’ve had the opportunity to learn from other coaches over the past three years at Purdue while serving as the Director of Basketball Operations. I’ve seen how they interact with the players, the strategies that they use, as well as the reactions from the players. It’s helped me to assess how I would handle certain situations and I look forward to the opportunity of being in a position where I can be more hands on everyday.”

Coach Martin will begin his new duties as head coach of the Bears on April 1 and Kent expects to join him shortly. “Jessica and I will be putting our house up for sale immediately and following a trip to the NCAA Final Four with Cuonzo, I expect to relocate and get right to work.”  Missouri State University is situated in Springfield, Missouri and they are about to unveil a new 11,000 seat venue for basketball known as the JQH Arena which had a price tag of $67 million. “Springfield is a growing town and this is an exciting time for Bears basketball fans,” said Williams. “Missouri State is a great basketball area with a lot of fan support and in my playing days it was always the toughest place to play in the Missouri Valley Conference.”

Kent recalls his only win in a Saluki uniform at Springfield when they were previously known as Southwest Missouri State. “I played there four times in my playing career, but we only beat them once,” said Williams. “I was fortunate to hit a driving lay-up in the closing seconds of the game during my senior year to beat the Bears for our only win, it was really a rough place to play.”

Former Missouri State coach, Barry Hinson, was fired on March 9 after failing to get the Bears into the NCAA Tournament during the last nine years. “I have a lot of respect for coach Hinson,” said Williams. “It was a tough break for him because he had two really outstanding teams that were on the bubble with 24 wins but just didn’t get selected by the committee. He did a lot of positive things at Springfield and hopefully we can come in and pick up where he left off and help take the Bears basketball program to another level.”

Kent said he will be involved in recruiting as well as coaching in his new role at Missouri State and looks forward to the challenge. “Recruiting will be an important part of the job and I feel that my ties and knowledge of the Missouri Valley Conference will help me succeed in that part of the business,” said Williams. “It will be hard and it will require a lot of phone work, personal visits, and follow-up with the relationships that I have developed. Hopefully since I haven’t been away from the Valley as a player very long, people will remember me.”

Williams was quick to point out the valuable experience he acquired at Purdue. “I am very thankful to Coach Painter for giving me an opportunity to get my feet wet and be around the major college coaching environment,” said Williams. “While I pushed a lot of paperwork and did a lot of things behind the scenes, it has helped me to become a better person and allowed me to observe and learn so much that I can take with me to my new position as an Assistant at Missouri State,”

As members of the Missouri Valley Conference, the Bears will make a visit to the Arena in Carbondale to face SIU. That will be an interesting moment for the fans as well as for Williams, who led the Salukis in scoring during each of his four seasons as a player. “It will be different sitting on the other sideline seeing people I know that will be rooting against us,” said Williams. “I got a taste of that feeling the past two seasons each time we (Purdue) played against Illinois. Since I played for Bruce Webber at SIU and he was also a former Purdue assistant, it was kind of strange at first. But you get used to it, because while I will have friends sitting over there on the SIU sideline, we will go to war for the 40 minutes of game time on the basketball floor.”

Williams is married to the former Jessica Payne of Mount Vernon. Jessica graduated from the University of Illinois, where she was a Fighting Illini cheerleader.  She is a TV news reporter in West Lafayette, IN.  “The toughest part about coaching (for the wives) is this aspect of moving,” said Williams. “Jessica will likely be looking for another media job in the Springfield market, but she may also decide to go back to school after we relocate. There are a lot of possibilities, but she supports the move to Missouri State and we are excited.”

The Bears finished the season this year at 16-15 overall, and 8-10 in the Missouri Valley Conference. “There is a lot of talent there and a lot to build on,” said Williams. “We played them during the summer, so I am already familiar with some of the players.”

Matt Painter led Purdue to a great season this year with a very young team.  The Boilermakers finished 15-3 in the Big Ten and 25-9 overall.  Painter was named Coach of the Year in the Big Ten Conference and he was quick to credit his staff, including Martin and Williams.  He said that the honor he received from the Conference would help his staff members further their careers.  He was right and it didn't take very long.  Missouri State fans should be smiling with Martin and Williams coming to town.  Their work ethic and previous success should rub off on the Bears basketball program.

Former Mount Vernon Head Coach, Doug Creel, visits with Matt Painter and Kent Williams inside Mackey Arena at Purdue University.  Creel recently resigned as coach of the Rams after 22 years in the basketball program, while Williams joins Cuonzo Martin on the coaching staff at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.  Painter was recently named Coach of the Year in the Big Ten Conference.