List of Missouri State Bears basketball head coaches

Last updated March 28, 2024

The following is a list of Missouri State Bears basketball head coaches. There have been 18 head coaches of the Bears in their 111-season history.^[1]

Missouri State's current head coach is Dana Ford. He was hired as the Bears' head coach in March 2018,^[2] replacing Paul Lusk, who was fired after the 2017–18 season.^[3]

No.	Tenure	Coach	Years	Record	Pct.
1	1908–1910	W. A. Daggett	2	11–9	.550
2	1910–1911	Corliss Buchanan	1	13–8	.619
3	1913–1918 1919–1923	Arthur W. Briggs	9	106–31	.774
4	1918–1919	Paul Andrews	1	2–4	.333
5	1923–1924	Chester Barnard	1	13–1	.929
6	1924–1925	Donald Holwerda	1	9–6	.600
7	1925–1950^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Andrew McDonald	23	302–166	.645
8	1950–1953	Bob Vanatta	1	73–12	.859
9	1953–1964	Edwin Matthews	11	164–91	.643
10	1964–1980	Bill Thomas	16	265–158	.626
11	1980–1983	Bob Cleeland	3	39–46	.459
12	1983–1992	Charlie Spoonhour	9	197–81	.709
13	1992–1995	Mark Bernsen	3	48–37	.565
14	1995–1999	Steve Alford	4	78–48	.619
15	1999–2008	Barry Hinson	9	169–117	.591
16	2008–2011	Cuonzo Martin	3	61–41	.598
17	2011–2018	Paul Lusk	7	106–121	.467
18	2018–2024	Dana Ford	5	89–66	.574
19	2024–present	Cuonzo Martin	0	0–0	–
Totals		18 coaches	111 seasons	1,745–1,043	.626
Records updated through end of 2022–23 season Source^[1]

↑ Missouri State did not field a team between 1943 and 1945.

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The 2011–12 Missouri State Bears basketball team represented Missouri State University during the 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears, led by first year head coach Paul Lusk, played their home games at JQH Arena and are members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 16–16, 9–9 in Missouri Valley play. As the six seed, the Bears lost in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Basketball tournament to Evansville.

The 2012–13 Missouri State Bears basketball team represented Missouri State University during the 2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears, led by second year head coach Paul Lusk, played their home games at JQH Arena and were members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 11–22, 7–11 in MVC play to finish in a three-way tie for seventh place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley tournament to Wichita State.

The 2013–14 Missouri State Bears basketball team represented Missouri State University during the 2013–14 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears, led by third year head coach Paul Lusk, played their home games at JQH Arena and were members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 20–13, 9–9 in Missouri Valley play to finish in a three way tie for fourth place. They advanced to the semifinals of the Missouri Valley tournament where they lost to Wichita State. They were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they lost in the first round to Murray State.

Dana Ford is an American college basketball coach who was formerly the head coach for Missouri State University since March 21, 2018. He was relieved of his duties on March 10, 2024. Prior to coaching the Bears, he was the head coach at Tennessee State from 2014 through the 2018 season. Ford is a former basketball player, having played at Illinois State from 2002 to 2006. After not being selected in the 2006 NBA draft, the Tamms, Illinois native joined the Tennessee State Tigers coaching staff under head coach John Cooper. He has previously been with Wichita State and Illinois State through his coaching career, playing a key role in the teams' recruiting and overall success.

The 2014–15 Missouri State Bears basketball team represented Missouri State University during the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears, led by fourth year head coach Paul Lusk, played their home games at JQH Arena and were members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 11–20, 5–13 in MVC play to finish in eighth place. They lost in the first round of the Missouri Valley tournament to Southern Illinois.

The 2015–16 Missouri State Bears basketball team represented Missouri State University during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears, led by fifth year head coach Paul Lusk, played their home games at JQH Arena and were members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 13–19, 8–10 in Missouri Valley play to finish in a tie for sixth place. They defeated Drake in the first round of the Missouri Valley tournament to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to Evansville.

The 2016–17 Missouri State Bears basketball team represented Missouri State University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears, led by sixth-year head coach Paul Lusk, played their home games at JQH Arena in Springfield, Missouri as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the regular season 17–16, 7–11 in MVC play to finish in a tie for sixth place. As the No. 6 seed in the MVC tournament, they defeated Northern Iowa in the quarterfinals before losing to Wichita State in the semifinals.

The 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 10, 2017. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and the season ended with the Final Four in San Antonio on April 2, 2018. Practices officially began on September 29, 2017.

The 2017–18 Missouri State Bears basketball team represented Missouri State University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears, led by seventh-year head coach Paul Lusk, played their home games at JQH Arena in Springfield, Missouri as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. Despite being the preseason favorite in the MVC, the Bears finished the season 18–15, 7–11 in MVC play to finish in a three-way tie for seventh place. As the No. 7 seed in the MVC tournament, they beat Valparaiso in the first round before losing to Southern Illinois in the quarterfinals.

The 2018–19 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2018, followed by the start of the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season on November 6, 2018. Conference play began in late December 2018 and concluded in March with the Missouri Valley Conference tournament at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

The 2018–19 Missouri State Bears basketball team represented Missouri State University during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears, led by first-year head coach Dana Ford, played their home games at JQH Arena in Springfield, Missouri as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 16–16, 10–8 in MVC play to finish in a tie for third place. As the No. 4 seed in the MVC tournament, they lost in the quarterfinals to Bradley.

The 2023–24 Missouri State Bears basketball team represents Missouri State University during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bears, led by sixth-year head coach Dana Ford, play their home games at the Great Southern Bank Arena located in Springfield, Missouri as members of the Missouri Valley Conference.

References

1 2 "Missouri State Men's Basketball 2022-23 Media Guide" (PDF). Missouri State Athletics. p. 56-58. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
↑ "Ford To Become Missouri State Head Coach". NewsChannel5.com. March 20, 2018. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
↑ Wheeler, Wyatt D. (March 3, 2018). "Paul Lusk out as Missouri State's basketball coach after seven seasons" . Springfield News-Leader . Retrieved March 23, 2023.

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[NoTeam-4] Missouri State did not field a team between 1943 and 1945.

[RecordBook-1] 1 2 "Missouri State Men's Basketball 2022-23 Media Guide" (PDF). Missouri State Athletics. p. 56-58. Retrieved March 23, 2023.

[2] "Ford To Become Missouri State Head Coach". NewsChannel5.com. March 20, 2018. Retrieved March 23, 2023.

[3] Wheeler, Wyatt D. (March 3, 2018). "Paul Lusk out as Missouri State's basketball coach after seven seasons" . Springfield News-Leader . Retrieved March 23, 2023.

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v t e Missouri State Bears basketball
Venues	Hammons Student Center (1976–2008) Great Southern Bank Arena (2008–present)
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
NAIA national championships in bold