Kim Anderson didn’t have a playbook when he took over as head coach of the Central Missouri Mules.
“I really didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Anderson said. “I had ideas, but it’s not like I had this philosophy. I knew I wanted something that spread the floor a little bit. I knew I wanted something where we could throw the ball inside.”
Twelve years and one NCAA Division II Championship later, Anderson has that offensive style in place for his first year as Missouri’s head men’s basketball coach — pieced together through his travels around collegiate basketball.
What that playbook is made up of might upset some Tiger fans.
“We actually run (Kansas coach) Bill Self’s high-low offense,” Anderson said. “That’s kind of what we do. I’ve taken stuff from coach Stewart. I’ve taken stuff from a lot of different coaches.”
Anderson started his coaching career at Mizzou as an assistant under Norm Stewart from 1982 to 1985. After a six-year stint as an assistant coach at Baylor, Anderson returned to Missouri as a coach on Stewart’s staff from 1991 to 1999.
Anderson said he took a few things from Gene Iba, the nephew of legendary Oklahoma State coach Hank Iba, while at Baylor. When Mizzou runs a 1-4 “high set,” Anderson said that comes from Kelvin Sampson, the 1995 Associated Press College Basketball Coach of the Year at Oklahoma.
When Bob Knight was the head coach at Texas Tech, he invited Anderson to watch video with him. Anderson said he got these opportunities from his connection with Stewart. Knight ranks third all-time in NCAA Division I basketball wins, has won three NCAA championships and is a four-time National Coach of the Year.
“Most people would have to pay for that,” Anderson said of his time with Knight. “That’s a free clinic. You just kind of sit there and listen.”
To add on, Anderson said Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams has been great to him in helping form his identity as a coach. Eddie Sutton would sit in stands with Anderson when he would attend practices to watch Sutton’s Oklahoma State team run plays.
“You can’t buy that,” Anderson said.
Throughout Anderson’s tenure as the Big 12 conference assistant commissioner, he would travel, watching teams practice.
“He has his system, but he’s not afraid to take from anyone else,” junior forward Ryan Rosburg said. “He knows what he likes, but then he sees someone on TV, and the next day he tries to have us run it. We try so many things in practice to see what works. He builds on what he has and is adding new stuff every day.”
Anderson studies more than just collegiate basketball. Rosburg said that since the NBA season has begun, Anderson’s references to the professionals during practices have increased. Anderson is running a high-low offense at Mizzou, a change from the isolation-type offense run last year.
“The bigs get the ball more, so I’m pretty happy about that,” sophomore forward Johnathan Williams III said. “It’s a good system, and I think it’s going to work in the long run.”
