Charlie Spoonhour

Who was Charlie Spoonhour?

Charlie Spoonhour was a high school and college basketball coach.

Spoonhour was born in Mulberry, Kansas, attended high school in Rogers, Arkansas, and received an education degree from the University of the Ozarks. He spent seven seasons as a high school basketball coach, then fourteen seasons bouncing between Division I assistant coaching positions and junior college head coaching positions. This included a four year stretch from 1969 to 1973 as an assistant coach on the staff of head coach Bill Thomas at then-Division II Missouri State.

Ten years later, Spoonhour was on the staff of Nebraska coach Moe Iba, when he was hired as the head coach of Missouri State for the 1983-84 season, a year after the Bears had moved up to Division I. He led the Bears to five NCAA Tournament appearances in a six-season stretch from 1987 to 1992. His best season was in 1986-87 when the Bears won the Mid-Continent Conference with a 13-1 mark and finished 28-6. Behind future NBA point guard Winston Garland, they made it to the second round of the 1987 NCAA Tournament as a #13-seed, beating 4th-seeded Clemson 65-60 before losing to 5th-seeded Kansas 67-63.