ESPN sharticle on Cuonzo Martin

Let's see, includes the race card, and lauds Cuonzo for taking Tennessee to the second weekend of the tournament "for the first time since 1997"

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...o-martin-put-tennessee-found-comfortable-home

 

bahahahahahaha.

Should we reverse play the race card for basically ignoring everything a Jewish man did here at TN?

 

It had nothing to do with race. And that writer is a moron.

 

Botch Jones will claim the same, and this article will help his angle on that.

 

With a competent administration, a different athletic director is making Butch's life miserable so he takes a new job before the bowl game.

 

I don't see how you can be sure it had nothing to do with race. I suspect it did. And the fact is that he DID take us as deep as we'd ever gone in the tournament-- not Pearl. And yet folks despise him... I guess it's worse to leave when you're told you're not wanted than to get fired for NCAA violations. UT-- stupidest fan base on the planet.

 

Cuonzo needs to go and win something and stop looking to the past

 

Wrong. In fact he DID NOT. It was Pearl.

 

I'm sure there were some that didn't like him because he was black but that wasn't the driving force behind it.

His teams underperformed and lost games they had no business losing. He did have a nice run in the tournament and I liked him and his principles. He just struggled coaching offense

 

1. The fan base loved him at first and desperately wanted him to succeed.
2. Pearl got us to the elite eight. Cuonzo did not.
3. The petition to fire him came when it looked like he was going to miss the tourney for the third straight year after Pearl made it all six times.

 

Tennessee fans hated Cuonzo because his teams were boring as hell, and we were coming off a very successful stretch where we were incredibly entertaining to watch.

 

This is pretty ridiculous.

 

They had top 15ish talent and were very lucky to even make the tournament in year 3. Recruiting wasn't going great and all the best guys were leaving after that season. It was inevitable that he would be gone, he just lucked into a situation where it wouldn't look good for us to let him go.

 

But really the AD should have been burned down after we blew all the momentum Pearl had gathered by hiring another guy whose only line on the resume was an NIT appearance.

 

1 and 3 are related. Some people are never going to get over Pearl, and never accepted Cuonzo considering he was Pearl's replacement.

 

I think you are wrong. Cuonzo was boring. His teams were boring, and they lost games (especially early in the season) that they had no business losing. It was no coincidence that he started coaching better once he saw the writing on the wall.

I wish nothing but the best for him at Cal.

 

He's a good guy that's had to deal with more shit than most could survive, but just keeps pushing forward. Would have liked nothing more than for him to work out here.

 

His style of ball didn't bother me at all, just the lack of consistent results. Win consistently playing defensive ball and I'm just fine. That last team wasn't boring at all when they finally starting playing ball.

 

I think so too, but I'm a little disappointed he seems to keep playing this victim card

 

Yes. He needs to move on.