10 Copyright (c) 2008 Yahoo!, Inc. All rights reserved. en-us 126 15 http://sports.yahoo.com Yahoo! Sports http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/b/ysp_logo_rss.gif Latest news and information about the Missouri St. Bears. Yahoo! Sports - NCAA Men's Hoops - Missouri St. Bears News http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/teams/scg Missouri State Team Report (Yahoo! Sports)

The long-awaited split between Missouri State and Barry Hinson finally came. The inevitable finally became reality on March 9.

And on March 26, the Cuonzo Martin era began.

The 36-year-old has never been a head coach, but he's not short on experience. He played at Purdue from 1991-95 and was on the Purdue bench since 2000.

"I plan to be here for a while," Martin said at his introductory press conference.

Martin, chosen from 46 applicants, will receive a contract expected to be in line with that of Hinson—$300,000 total compensation with a base salary of $140,000.

Hinson's dismissal came two days after Missouri State lost to Illinois State in the Missouri Valley tournament, but rumors of his departure had swirled for weeks and the specter of...]]> Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:38:28 PDT urn:newsml:sports.yahoo,sportsxchange:20080101:ncaab,article,teamreports-2008-ncaab-scg:1 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:38:28 PDT