The new Missouri State men’s basketball coaching staff will have a decidedly youthful look to it with the completion of that staff for 2008-09 by Bears’ new head coach Cuonzo Martin. Martin has announced that he is adding 2003 Southern Illinois graduate Kent Williams and 2002 Marquette graduate Jon Harris to the staff as assistant coaches.
   Martin himself finished his playing days at Purdue in 1995, Assistant Coach Steve Woodberry is a 1994 product of Kansas and Bears’ Director of Basketball Operations Trevyor Fisher graduate from Missouri State in 2005.
   Newcomers Williams and Harris will assume their new duties this week and both will have assignments in recruiting as well as game and practice coaching responsibilities. Their appointments are subject to approval by the Missouri State Board of Governors as well as the completion of background checks.
   Williams will be no stranger to Bears’ fans. His 2,012 points at SIU from 1999 to 2003 make him the Salukis’ second leading career scorer and he’s 13th best in Missouri Valley Conference career points. He was an all-MVC first team choice his last two years at SIU after collecting second team honors as a sophomore. He was also the Valley Scholar-Athlete of the Year his last two seasons at SIU. He was named Valley Freshman of the Year and Newcomer of the Year in 1999-00, and he was one of 50 players named to the Valley All-Centennial team in 2007.
    Williams played for head coach Bruce Weber at SIU and current Purdue head coach Matt Painter was a Saluki assistant. After his graduation from SIU, Williams spent one season playing in the NBA Development League and worked for TEKsystems in St. Louis for a year before joining the Purdue staff as supervisor of basketball operations in 2005.
    A native of Mt. Vernon, Ill., Williams is the basketball career scoring leader at Mt. Vernon High School. Williams and his wife, Jessica, were married in September, 2007.
   Jon Harris has been an assistant coach for five seasons at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay on the staff of head coach Tod Kowalczyk. Harris went to Green Bay following a year on the Marquette staff during the Golden Eagles’ Final Four run in 2002-03. That team, led by current NBA star Dwyane Wade, finished the campaign with a 27-6 record.
  A four-year contributor for the Golden Eagles, Harris saw action in every game of his final three seasons, primarily as a top interior reserve. He ranked second on the team in rebounding as a sophomore and earned 22 starts in his collegiate career. Harris pulled down 494 rebounds and shot 53 percent from the floor for his career, which culminated with a 26-7 mark and an NCAA Tournament appearance for Marquette during his senior season in 2001-02.
 An Edwardsville, Ill., native, Harris was the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Player of the Year in 1998 and earned prep All-America honorable mention accolades from USA Today.
 Harris graduated from Marquette in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He is married to the former Heidi Bowman, a 1,000-point career scorer and all-conference player for the Marquette women’s basketball team from 1998 to 2001. The couple welcomed daughter Hailey Ashlyn on Nov. 9, 2006.
