Matt Brock just finished his third season as the head coach of the Missouri Baptist men’s basketball team in 2017-18. In just three years, Brock has directed the Spartans to an impressive turnaround averaging just under 20 wins per season.
In 2017-18 MBU won 23 games their best season since 2004. The Spartans set a record for conference wins (15) and spent 8 weeks in the NAIA Top 25 Poll. MBU has had three victories over the NAIA’s top 10 including the program’s first ever win over a top 5 opponent. His 2015 nine-man recruiting class made an immediate impact in the American Midwest Conference improving from 11th the year before to 4th. The Spartans improved their overall win total by 13 and finished 19-12 overall, MBU’s best record in a decade. In 2016-17, the Spartans won 17 and advanced to the AMC tournament semifinals.
Under Brock, the Spartans have made immediate strides defensively. MBU has been ranked among national leaders each year in scoring defense (4th this year) and defensive FG% (5th this year). They finished 2017-18 as the #2 Defense in the nation giving up just 0.92 points per possession. MBU’s efficiency on offense has jumped as well. They lead the AMC in FG% (48.0%) in 2016. Last year, MBU averaged over 81 points per game, which was the most since 2007. The Spartans finished this year with the NAIA's 7th best scoring margin (+13.0 PPG).
Players have excelled at MBU: Players have earned NAIA All-American honors four times, as well as eight have players made All-AMC conference teams. Missouri Baptist has excelled off the court as well. In the fall of 2017, the team posted a record 3.35 GPA. The Spartans have received the NAIA Scholar-Team Award as well as the NABC Academic Excellence Award each year, Chris Buzzell, David Gabrovsek and Pablo Hernandez were Academic All-Americans, four have made the NABC Honors Court and 21 team members have received academic all-conference recognition. In February of 2016, Brock was named NAIA National Coach of the Week by HoopDirt.com.
Prior to Missouri Baptist, Brock spent three seasons at fellow AMC institution Columbia College, where he helped to lead the Cougars to a 93-11 record, including two regular season titles, two conference tournament championships and three NAIA National Tournaments. Brock helped lead the team to a 35-1 record and the school’s first #1 national ranking in 2013.
Prior to his time in Columbia, Brock had stops at Green City High School (Mo.) and Hannibal-LaGrange University (Mo.) before heading to Pittsburg State University (Kan.), where he helped to lead the Gorillas to the MIAA Championship Game in 2012.
Brock began coaching after a successful playing career at Truman State University (Mo.). There, he served as team captain in 2005-06 and helped to lead the Bulldogs to 20 wins and an NCAA Division II Tournament appearance. He played high school basketball at Camdenton (Mo.) for his father, Skip Brock, a member of the Missouri Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.
Brock and his wife Sheryl, an instructor at MBU, reside in St. Louis with their children, Hope and Matthew.
