Cornell Mann was named the sixth head coach in GVSU Basketball history on April 2, 2022 and will begin his fifth season as head coach in 2026-27. In his four seasons as head coach for GVSU, Mann has posted a 76-47 record.
Mann guided GVSU to a GLIAC tournament championship and NCAA tournament appearance in the 2025-26 season. The Lakers finished the season with 26 wins which is tied for fourth in single-season program history. Mann coached two players that earned All-GLIAC second team honors and two players that were named to the GLIAC All-Defensive team. Graduate forward Ethan Alderink was named a CSC Academic All-American and was named to the D2CCA Midwest All-Region team. Trevor Smith Jr. became the third player in GLIAC history to be named to the All-Defensive team four times. Smith Jr. also led the country in assist/turnover ratio in the 2025-26 season. GVSU defeated three teams ranked in the Top 10 which was the most wins against Top 10 teams in single-season history. The Lakers ranked in the Top 25 for six weeks of the season.
In the 2024-25 season, Mann guided the Lakers to a 16-13 overall record and 12-8 GLIAC mark. Mann coached two players that were named to the All-GLIAC second team and three players to the All-GLIAC defensive team which was the most out of any team in the conference.
Mann helped lead the Lakers to a GLIAC tournament championship appearance in his second season, finishing with a 16-15 record and 11-7 GLIAC record. In the 2023-24 season, Mann coached three players that were named to the All-GLIAC second team and two players named to the All-GLIAC defensive team.
In his first season under the helm at GVSU, Mann led the Lakers to an 18-12 record and an 11-7 GLIAC mark.
Mann comes to Grand Valley State after spending five years (2017-21) as a member of Cuonzo Martin's coaching staff at Missouri. In addition to his tenure at Missouri, Mann has built a wealth of coaching knowledge and experience at previous stops that include Oakland (2016-17), Iowa State (2011-15), Dayton (2008-11), Western Michigan (2003-08) and Central Michigan (2001-03). Mann brings NCAA Tournament coaching experience from five different schools, including a run of four consecutive NCAA berths at Iowa State. In addition, Mann has helped recruit and develop eight NBA draftees and coached six All-Americans. Mann recruited and coached Western Michigan's David Kool, the all-time leading scorer in Mid-American Conference history.
In first his first season at Missouri, the Tigers qualified for their first NCAA Tournament since 2013 and recorded their first 20-win season in four years. Mann was the lead recruiter for First Team All-SEC guard Kassius Robertson, who led Missouri in scoring in 2017-18.
Mann helped steer Missouri to an impressive 2020-21 season, in which the Tigers went 16-10 and secured an NCAA Tournament berth for the second time in four seasons. In 2020-21, the Tigers spent 11 consecutive weeks in the AP Top 25, reaching as high as No. 10 nationally for the first time since Jan. 7, 2013. With Mann and company, the squad went undefeated in nonconference play and finished the season with three wins over Top 10 teams (No. 6 Illinois, No. 6 Tennessee and No. 10 Alabama) in the same campaign for the first time since 2011-12. The Tigers finished the regular season as one of 13 teams nationally with seven Quad 1 victories and totaled a 9-4 record against the 2021 NCAA Tournament field, beating six conference champions along the way.
In his time at Iowa State, Mann recruited and tutored one of the top point guards in college basketball in Flint native Monte Morris, who finished his Iowa State career with the best assist-to-turnover ratio in NCAA history (4.65-1). Morris remains the Cyclones' all-time assists leader.
Mann was on staff at Dayton (2008-11) for three-straight postseason berths. In his first season with the Flyers, Mann helped coach Dayton to the second-most wins in school history (27) and a second round NCAA Tournament appearance.
Prior to Dayton, Mann served stints on coaching staffs at Western Michigan (2003-08) and Central Michigan (2001-03), with the Broncos making a Big Dance appearance in 2004 and the Chippewas advancing to the tournament in 2003, respectively.
A native of Royal Oak Township, Michigan, Mann earned a degree in family development from Akron in 1995, playing his final three seasons of eligibility for the Zips after starting his collegiate career at Colorado. He then earned his master's degree at Iowa State in 2014. Mann has two children, a daughter, Cyncere, and a son, Maliq, and is engaged to his fiancee Justina Phillips.
