In his ninth season at the University of Central Missouri, Kim Anderson has moved into a class of his own as the all-time wins leader in school history. He has led the Mules to a 185-63 (.746) overall record and is the only coach in school history to take a Mules team to the Final Four two times, win three MIAA Tournament titles, or win 24 games five times.

He currently ranks sixth among active NCAA-II coaches with a .746 winning percentage.
 
Last season he took the Mules to a 27-4 overall record and an outright MIAA Regular Season title for the first time since 1984 with a conference record 18-2 mark. He also led UCM to its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last six seasons, going to the South Central Region Championship Game (Sweet 16). The success earned him MIAA Coach of the Year honors for the second time in his career.

In 2008-09 he took the Mules to a 30-5 overall mark, the second-most wins in school history (behind the 2006-07 team’s 31). The Mules won the South Central Region crown, the MIAA Tournament title, and advanced to the NCAA-II Final Four for the second time in three seasons.

The 2006-07 Mules finished 31-4, advancing to Anderson’s first NCAA-II Elite Eight and Final Four in Springfield, Mass. The 31 victories established a school record for wins.  The Mules also won their second MIAA Regular Season title in three years with a 15-3 mark.

Anderson’s three MIAA titles (2004-05, 2006-07, 2009-10) are the most for a Mule coach since Tom Scott won three from 1938-42. In addition, the Mules have won the MIAA Post-Season Tournament three times (2004-05, 2006-07, 2008-09).
   
The Mules are 16-5 in the post-season the last four years, and have hosted the NCAA-II South Central Regional Championships two times during that span. The Mules hosted for the first time since 1991 during the 2006-07 season, as a total of 15,700 fans watched the Mules during the three days of competition, including a crowd of more than 6,300 that saw the Mules cut down the nets as regional champs at the Multipurpose Building on March 13th, for the first time since 1984.  That victory qualified the Mules for their first trip to the Elite Eight since 1995.  The 2008-09 regional drew nearly 14,000 fans, despite taking place during UCM’s spring break.

During the past seven seasons, the Mules are also the winningest team in MIAA play, posting 96 victories.

He has also coached the eighth, ninth and tenth All-Americans in UCM history, Michael Hicks, Zack Wright, and Sanijay Watts. With the signing of a contract with ALM Evreux (France) in the summer of 2006, Hicks became the first Mule to play professionally since 1995 (Armando Becker). Eight more Mules have since signed professional contracts to play in Europe (Zack Wright, Theo Jones, Darryl Sommerset, Wadale Williams, Alonzo Brooks, De’Andre Byrd, Alex Moosmann, and Sanijay Watts).

In 2005-2006, he guided the Mules to their first NCAA Tournament win since 1996 and posted a 24-8 overall record.

In 2004-05 he led the Mules to a record of 24-7, a share of their first MIAA regular season title since 1984-85, and UCM’s first men’s MIAA Tournament Championship since 1983-84. For his effort, Anderson was named Wilson/MIAA Coach of the Year.

The year before Anderson’s arrival, the Mules averaged 922 fans per home game.  Attendance has risen every year under Anderson, to a Division II leading 3,640 fans per home contest in  2006-07, capped off by a season best 6,300 fans at the regional championship victory over Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Last season Central Missouri ranked fourth in the nation with nearly 3,000 fans per game. The Mules are 87-6 at home the last six seasons, including a perfect 18-0 mark in 2006-07, and a 17-0 record in 2008-09.

Prior to accepting the post at Central Missouri, the 55-year-old Anderson spent two seasons as assistant commissioner of the Big 12 Conference in Dallas, Texas. He was originally hired by the conference in July of 1999 as Director of Basketball Operations. With the Big 12, his duties included organizing and directing the men’s postseason basketball tournament, serving as the conference liaison for the men’s basketball coaches, and overseeing the men’s and women’s officiating programs. Prior to accepting his position with the Big 12, Anderson served two stints as assistant basketball coach at his alma mater, the University of Missouri. Under his college coach, the legendary Norm Stewart, he was a part of two Big 8 regular season championships (1983, 1994), a Big 8 Tournament title (1993), six trips to the NCAA Division I Tournament and an Elite Eight appearance in 1994.

He served as a Tiger graduate assistant from 1982-1985 and a full-time assistant from 1991-1999. Anderson was also an assistant coach at Baylor University for six seasons (1985-1991) under former Pittsburg State head coach Gene Iba. The Bears made their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 38 years in 1988. His duties at Missouri and Baylor included recruiting, practice organization, conditioning, scouting and academic support programs.   Anderson was a prep standout at Sedalia (Mo.) Smith-Cotton High School, where he was a two-time all-state selection. Anderson went on to enjoy tremendous success at the University of Missouri, where he played from 1973-77. He was a junior forward on Norm Stewart’s first Big 8 Conference championship team in 1976, then led the league in scoring and was Big 8 Player of the Year in 1977. He was named to the Academic All-Big 8 team in 1975 and 1977, and won Missouri’s George Edwards Award for basketball excellence, academic ability, citizenship and character three times. He scored 1,289 points in his career to rank among Missouri’s top-20 all-time scorers.

After his college career, Anderson was a second round selection of the Portland Trailblazers in the 1977 NBA Draft. He played for the Trailblazers during the 1978-79 season and also played professionally in Italy and France for a total of three seasons.

Anderson has been inducted into the University of Missouri Athletic Department Hall of Fame and the Missouri Basketball Hall of Fame (which now is the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in Springfield). His high school basketball jersey was retired at Sedalia Smith-Cotton. In 2005, Anderson was named to the Mizzou Basketball All-Century Team.

Anderson received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from the University of Missouri in 1979 and 1981, respectively.

His sister, Kathy, was a standout basketball player for Central Missouri’s women’s basketball team from 1976 to 1980 and was an inaugural inductee into Central Missouri’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992. She is now associate athletic director for internal operations at UCM. His father, Keith, graduated from Central Missouri in 1954.

His wife of 33 years, Melissa, is a native of Lee’s Summit, Mo., and they have two sons, Ryan, a senior at UCM, and Brett, a freshman at Central Missouri.