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Anderson Reaches Pinnacle at Central Missouri
By David Boyce
WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- On many occasions, Central Missouri senior point guard Alex Moosmann receives praise from head basketball coach Kim Anderson. One night in late January was different.
Moosmann committed a couple of turnovers in the first half. The Mules were struggling at home against Pittsburg State.
When Moosmann returned to the bench after one of his turnovers, Anderson, in his deep baritone voice, had a few words for him.
"He was screaming at me more than I think he has in two years after I had a couple of turnovers in the first half," Moosmann said.
It was easy for Moosmann to handle the criticism because he also knows the other side of Anderson.
After the game, which was a 72-61 victory by the Mules, Anderson put his arm around Moosmann and smiled.
"He said, ‘it's nice to get a little butt chewing every once in a while,'" Moosmann said.
"The line he draws between friend and disciplinarian is something that makes him great."
Anderson's Central Missouri Mules are on a five-year roll that has even surprised athletic director Jerry Hughes, and Hughes had high expectations.
When Hughes hired Anderson in the spring of 2002, Hughes brought in a few pep band members and cheerleaders at the introductory press conference.
The moment stands out because you rarely see it happen.
But Hughes was ecstatic he landed the Sedalia, Mo., native who was a basketball star at Missouri, spent some time in the NBA as a player and was a longtime assistant at MU under Norm Stewart.
There were no questions in Hughes' mind that Anderson would dig the Mules out of years of mediocrity and return the program back to its strong basketball tradition.
But who would have believed it would take Anderson just eight seasons to become the schools' all-time leader in wins in such a short time?
Anderson's record improved to 179-60 after Central Missouri won at Washburn on Wednesday. The previous mark was held by Tad Reid, who guided the Mules to 178-110 record from 1923-38.
In addition, Anderson has taken Central Missouri to the NCAA Division II Final Four in two of the last three years.
Finally, this year's team heads into Saturday's MIAA showdown at Fort Hays State with a No. 3 ranking and 21-1 overall record and 14-1 in the MIAA.
The Mules' only loss this season came at home against Fort Hays, which is currently 19-3 and 13-2.
"I knew when I hired him he would do a good job," Hughes said. "He's just such a quality individual and a quality coach. He's been around quality coaches his entire career. I felt he would do a quality job and he exceeded my expectations.
"The run he's been on lately, two Final Fours in the last three years, that's pretty good."
Perhaps the best way to explain Anderson's phenomenal success at Central Missouri is to look at what he did when he inherited a team that was coming off back-to-back 12-15 seasons.
Anderson was greeted with a roster full of players with two or three years of eligibility left. He kept every player who wanted to stay. In fact, a few of them stayed after their playing days were over as student assistant coaches.
The first year, Central Missouri went 13-15 overall and 7-11 in the MIAA and just barely made the conference tournament.
Looking back, Anderson knew he did the right thing.
"You know what, the guys were pretty good guys," Anderson said. "They probably weren't as good of players they needed to be, but you know what, I wasn't as good of a coach the first year I needed to be. It was a good learning process. Those guys started it.
"The first group of guys won 13 games, but they started a little tradition."
And that tradition is to work hard all the time. It's a quality Hughes noticed from Anderson's first team at Central Missouri.
It's a trait that current players speak about.
Sure, senior Sanijay Watts is a warrior in the post despite his 6-foot-4 frame. And senior Tremaine Luellen is probably one of the most athletic guards in the conference and Moosmann is a great shooter.
But the thing that the Mules do best night in and night out is to work hard on the court.
"First, we have to do it in practice or it is going to be a track meet," Watts said. "What separates us from other teams is we have to get loose balls, dive on the floor. Some teams don't like to play with all that energy. Coach gets the best out of us every day in practice. Some teams don't like to work hard in practice."
It all starts in practice, and the players see Anderson working every bit as hard as them.
"He never takes a break," Moosmann said. "He never comes into practice with the mentality I'm going to take the day off, so he makes sure we never take a day off."
Another quality about Anderson is he doesn't panic no matter what the score is, and his players feed off that demeanor.
Last year, Central Missouri entered the MIAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed. The pressure was on. The Mules won all three games in the conference tournament in overtime to win the title.
"You know how other coaches sit there and panic. He's always relaxed," Watts said. "We could be up 50 or down 50 and he's the same old coach. To me he is the best coach in Division II."
Luellen adds that Anderson doesn't like losing
"He's the most competitive coach I've ever played for," Luellen said. "Sometimes when we are in situations when we are up by 10, he wants to turn it into 30.
"He has a great basketball mind. He's a great guy."
Luellen's last sentence probably best explains Anderson's success. He knows when to push and when to hold back. It's a fine line that all coaches must learn to walk to be successful.
"Yes it is tough because so many times your guys work so hard for you and they make mistakes," Anderson said. "I try to be consistent with my criticism when they make a mistake. I get on them when they do something we told them to do and they don't do."
Anderson finishes the thought with his subtle sense of humor that becomes funnier the more you think about what he just said.
"Something I always tell these guys is I make mistakes in game strategy sometimes. I make mistakes in substitutions, but I tell them I'm pretty sure I'm going to make fewer mistakes than you are," he said.
Any way you look at it, Anderson has had extraordinary success in his first stint as a head coach. It has even exceeded his expectations.
"Oh yes," he said. "Who would have dreamed that you could come in and go to two Final Fours and have the success that we've had?
"It is really a total group effort. I'm lucky. I have great assistant coaches. I've had great players. I've had great support from the administration and I have great fans. To me it has been a lot of fun, and hopefully it can continue. The expectations are a little higher than they were eight years ago."
Well, that's Anderson's fault.
To reach David Boyce, contributing writer for the MIAA, e-mail dboyce@themiaa.com.
