OT: Tennessee's Cuonzo Martin Accepts the Cal Job
This has hit the Twitter wire, and Tennessee's AD has called a press conference this afternoon. Cuonzo Martin, who admittedly wasn't well liked by the Volunteer fan base until a Sweet 16 run, is leaving to take the Cal head coaching position.
It would not surprise me if LaVall Jordan gets a look, as Tennessee really isn't a top notch basketball program. But, as this season showed, they can be a perennial winner in the SEC and make a little noise come tournament time.
intelligent and personable coach hated by a fanbase that accuses you of reverse racism on the regular (see message boards) who might like to work at a class institution and build up a great long-term thing rather than work in front of and for some pretty vile people, no.
talent base in Cal light years better
i'd take california HS 4th and 5th tier over what Tenn produces
If you can recruit Oakland, a coach could build a powerhouse there.
Oakland Soldiers have been one of elite programs in terms of producing high-level talent over the years.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) April 12, 2014
Mike Montgomery was a great coach, but didn't keep enough Oakland Soldiers guys home. Went to 4 tourneys in 6 years.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) April 12, 2014
Bottom line for next Cal coach: If you can't recruit Oakland Soldiers program, you will be somewhat mediocre.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) April 12, 2014
Arizona has been living off the Oakland Soldiers AAU team: Stanley Johnson in 2013, Aaron Gordon in 2012, Brandon Ashley in 2011 and Nick Johnson in 2010. One of the top recruits in the country next year, Ivan Rabb, plays for...you guessed it, the Oakland Soldiers.
You think Tennessee people are significantly worse than other fanbases? I'd say that's a stretch. And you can't exactly base your opinion on the larger fanbase based on what some of them say on message boards, as even this place (and this is one of the "good" ones) can demonstrate.
Now, there is something to be said for getting out of a situation where you aren't popular and were even thought to be on a hot seat. I don't blame him. But let's not pretend that Tennessee folks are worse than other fans just because we're biased against the South.
the south to my northern friends on a regular basis--the south is misunderstood. But check out the message boards where it comes to Martin: ugly. I've spent time in Knoxville and Berkeley/Oakland. Why he would want to put up with ugly when he could go make something great happen at Cal. . . no contest.
EDIT: http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/24…
April 15th, 2014 at 10:15 PM ^
I don't think it was the fans ultimately that ran him off. I heard from multiple fans that follow the team closely that boosters were not letting the basketball staff utilize their private jets for recruiting trips. It's a football school that is struggling at football- never a good situation for a struggling basketball coach.
It depends on how much value you put on freedom.
to cancel out some dingbat.
Show yourself, Dingbat!
Tennessee's last two coaches final games were against Michigan. Both Michigan wins in the NCAA Tournament.
I was wondering if he'd wait out Painter at Purdue (his alma mater). Apparently not.
that's puzzling. maybe he didn't have the support at UT.
From what I've gathered he was not well-liked in Knoxville.
Their fan base has been ruthless on him, especially via Twitter in the past. He already spoke to Marquette and was looking desperately to get out of Knoxville it appears. They are estatic in east TN right now.
Martin came off really poorly with the way he addressed the block/charge call late in the game v. Michigan. He ignored the more blatant out of bounds error completely and implied that the game was lost solely because J-Mo wasn't called for blocking. As such, here's to hoping he follows the same "golden" path to irrelevancy that besets most Cal coaches.
as they were probably sharpening their conspiracy knives on the Woodson-Manning whetstone already.
The hell with Peyton Manning!
That is a completely bare cupboard with an unrealistic fan base. It will be very interesting to see who they even target for this position, and who ultimately takes over.
Keep in mind this is a group that also thought Jon Gruden was going to be their football coach, but the most notable name I've seen is Gregg Marshall from Wichita State.
Just because I typed earlier that we shouldn't single out their fans for being worse than an average fanbase doesn't mean that I can't agree that this is totally delusional.
I really don't know much about the California recruiting situation, but you would think that Cal would not be a real great place to go right now with the new hires of Andy Enfield (USC) and Steve Alford (UCLA). Both those guys are bigger names and have a year of realtionships under their belts with the AAU teams which is key for recruiting.
Another program on the rise with a nice tournament run.
that state is loaded with high school basketball talent. For the 2015 class they have 18 of the top 150 players on rivals. For the 2014 class they had 13 of the top 150 players on rivals and the year before that 10 of the top 150. Is their competition for those recruits? Sure but this isn't football. It's basketball. You grab one or two of those recruits every year and you're going to have a solid nucleus of talent.
I'm not sure about Enfield either. It seems like every year there is a coach who gets job offers from over achieving tourney runs.
NBCSports.com talks a little about it here - LINK
The question "How desperate is desperate?" may have been answered by the Volunteers fans who were not fond of Martin actually:
But there was a push in Knoxville to let Martin go, particularly among the fanbase, who circulated a petition to fire Martin and hire Bruce Pearl that received 36,000 signatures.
Their way-too-early speculation mentions Gregg Marshall as a name to consider, as well as Mike White and Donnie Tyndall.
It will be interesting to see who Tennessee pursues. That fan base still pines for Bruce Pearl, but I am guessing that door is closed now.
Very shameful how (some,not all) tenn fans have treated the man who took over from known cheater...but they love there cheater.
Go figure...
Are they rioting like they did when Kiffin left? That was some good shit.
Man, Tennessee has been a dumpster fire in both sports for a few years. They've done a lot of coaching searches lately.
how Tennessee players completely supported Cuonzo Martin's decision to take Cal's job. It speak highly of him as a person/coach to have complete support from the player where they could've been angry with him leaving them without notice.
players can leave if a coach leaves. its a new rule . thats recruits and players on the team