COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mike Anderson was hired as Missouri’s basketball coach Sunday, taking over following Quin Snyder’s resignation last month.

Anderson, who led Alabama-Birmingham to a 24-7 record and an NCAA tournament appearance this season, is the first permanent black head coach at Missouri, though Melvin Watkins, a Snyder assistant, served as interim coach after Snyder’s resignation.

Anderson was an assistant to Nolan Richardson at Arkansas for 13 years. As head coach at UAB for four years, Anderson had an 89-41 record with three NCAA tournament appearances.

“If you ever see me in a fight with a tiger or a bear, you better help that tiger or that bear out,” Anderson said. “If you watch my basketball team, that’s the same mind-set. What we do is predicated on defense – it starts, and it ends, on defense.”

The hiring came on the same day curators discussed but never voted on whether to fire the man who hired Anderson, athletic director Mike Alden.