Did Anyone Think...

Discussion in 'Keith Hatfield Memorial Vols Hoops' started by hatvol96, Oct 8, 2012.

  1. hatvol96

    hatvol96 Well-Known Member

    on the day Coach Martin was hired the program would be in such good shape on the eve of his second season?
     
  2. volfanjo

    volfanjo Chieftain

    I'm astonished at the development of Jeronne Maymon. That alone put me in his camp. Snagging Stokes midseason was the icing on the cake.

    I'm blogging an end of the year wrap soon so I hope to reflect on this.
     
  3. hatvol96

    hatvol96 Well-Known Member

    I can't imagine how anyone would have things positioned any better right now. For all the rightful criticism Mike Hamilton has gotten, he nailed that hire.
     
  4. TennTradition

    TennTradition Super Moderator

    It's incredibly impressive.
     
  5. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    I hope we lock him in contract-wise if we have a good run this year.
     
  6. volfanjo

    volfanjo Chieftain

    At one point he played Skylar McBee 36 minutes in a conference game to prove a point to Jordan McRae.

    My kind of coach.
     
  7. Beechervol

    Beechervol Super Moderator

    Hard to imagine. I didnt see it. He is getting a chance to build it himself which makes it sweeter and harder to leave hopefully.
     
  8. GoVols2003

    GoVols2003 Contributor

    I thought it was a good strategic hire to go polar opposite of Pearl given the situation and felt he was a solid hire based on his rep and past.

    I was a little unsure early on on whether he was going to be able to recruit the caliber of kid that he needed to be successful, but it appears he is doing just fine.
     
  9. lylsmorr

    lylsmorr Super Moderator

    No. I liked the hire, after seeing him build MSU up, but did not expect such quick results. Some people just have "it".
     
  10. TennTradition

    TennTradition Super Moderator

    I'll readily admit that I was questioning the hire...particularly after the Dooley fiasco. But, it didn't take more than 10 games of watching him to realize he and Dooley were nothing alike. He had me on board in short order .... love to watch him work.
     
  11. fun2bow

    fun2bow New Member

    I agree with Lyls, he has the "it" factor. Did not take long for us to see it. He came into a bad situation and took control and turned it around in short order. Not to be crass but we replaced a pearl with a diamond..
     
  12. Tenacious D

    Tenacious D The law is of supreme importance, or no importance

    I hated the hire from the get-go, and famously claimed that he'd fail.

    Thus far, the crow has been delicious.

    My favorite thing about him is this - he wouldn't accept an excuse, however justified and entirely valid, much less to actually make one, even often rejecting those that others attempt on his behalf.

    I liked the line from Hubbs' father, when retelling the comment made in response to his asking what would happen if his son wouldn't be able or willing to be the shooting / scoring threat that Cuonzo had laid out as his envisioned role.

    Cuonzo's response: "Then your son will quickly find his way to the end of bench."

    You can't fake them balls.
     
  13. lylsmorr

    lylsmorr Super Moderator

    Agree with this 100%

    I hadn't heard that part of the story from Hubbs' father, but that's awesome
     
  14. hatvol96

    hatvol96 Well-Known Member

    There's a whole bunch of old school in Cuonzo Martin. He's the rightful heir to the philosophical legacy of guys like Knight, Chaney, and Keady.
     
  15. LawVol13

    LawVol13 Chieftain

    I liked his style of play from the beginning, and I thought it was pretty obvious that he was a good coach as he had considerably improved Missouri State. However, my question was his recruiting, and he's outperformed my expectations so much so that it's astonishing. I think he's a coaching star in the making.
     
  16. gcbvol

    gcbvol Fabulous Moderator

    You've summed up my thoughts on this better than I could. I love the hard, defense-focused play and the fact Cuonzo commands respect as a coach and as a person.
     
  17. A-Smith

    A-Smith Chieftain

    I was almost disappointed in Martin as I was with Dooley. Hamilton did well by the basketball program in his tenure.
     
  18. tvolsfan

    tvolsfan Chieftain

    I don't understand the Martin/Dooley comparisons. Dooley's resume indicated that he sucked. Martin's indicated that he could build a program.

    That said, I wasn't expecting things to go so well.
     
  19. kptvol

    kptvol Super Moderator

    The Martin hire was potentially worse, in some ways. We seemed to be going the cheap route while Larry Brown and Lon Kruger were available.
     
  20. JZ1124

    JZ1124 Active Member

    I've yet to talk to a college coach that doesn't have great things to say about him. I was at a UVa practice last year and Tony Bennett had great things to say about Martin.
    A friend of mine is an assistant at Lipscomb and was the GA at UT the past two years and just raves about him.
     

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