Cuonzo Feeling Unwanted

#4
#4
Cuonzo seems like a good dude, but why would he go into such details about the security measures he took against a threat that didn't even exist?
 
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#5
#5
I love these threads that don't even matter 'cause you can say anything to vent, mock, pound your pud...see, anything...:)

GO VOLS!
 
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#8
#8
JohnnyJava said:
Cuonzo seems like a good dude, but why would he go into such details about the security measures he took against a threat that didn't even exist?
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I wish cuonzo luck and I disagree that the race card was a factor as well. Cuonzo started the 2013-2014 year not as everyone wanted. He lost games versus Xavier and UTEP which really irked the fanbase. Also UT was coming off its most beloved coach in men's basketball and felt he was judged hard by the NCAA.

It was a bad situation and both parties are better off now. Cuonzo is enjoying his time at Cal and I hope he does really well there. We have a good coach and are going on our own path. Was it wrong what happened to Cuonzo? I think that is left to personal opinion. Do you want your head coach to be out going like Bruce or more reserved like Martin?

I will say I don't understand the safety precautions he took as well. I understand a petition was signed but no threats were present.
 
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#9
#9
He smiles now like a man who no longer fights through the background static that muddied his time in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 2014, his turbulent three-season tenure at Tennessee ended with a Sweet 16 run. It was the first time since 1997 that the Vols had reached the NCAA tournament's second weekend. Still, that March burst happened after thousands of Vols fans had signed a petition seeking his dismissal and the return of former coach Bruce Pearl. Soon after, Martin left Tennessee and accepted an offer from Cal.

Wait! Wut? Did I dream the Pearl era at UT?
 
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#11
#11
JohnnyJava said:
Cuonzo seems like a good dude, but why would he go into such details about the security measures he took against a threat that didn't even exist?
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For whatever reason Cuonzo enables this kind of talk. UT gave him a job he wasn't qualified for and made him a millionaire and he is still whining a year and half later because he was receiving some heat for taking a team with 3 NBA players to the bubble.

He needs to shut up and move on.
 
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#14
#14
Crazy Ivan said:
He smiles now like a man who no longer fights through the background static that muddied his time in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 2014, his turbulent three-season tenure at Tennessee ended with a Sweet 16 run. It was the first time since 1997 that the Vols had reached the NCAA tournament's second weekend. Still, that March burst happened after thousands of Vols fans had signed a petition seeking his dismissal and the return of former coach Bruce Pearl. Soon after, Martin left Tennessee and accepted an offer from Cal.

Wait! Wut? Did I dream the Pearl era at UT?
Click to expand...


It was a Tennessee Vols version of "Total Recall" that was just a memory implant and didn't really happen:eek:lol:
 
#15
#15
We went from an energetic coach who gave us a very successful era in basketball to someone who wasn't recruiting that well, wasn't involved, seemed detached, and was just flat out boring.

I wish him nothing but the best, but that hit piece of an article wasn't necessary.
 
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#16
#16
His teams under performed.....he recruited OK, those teams under achieved....Good luck CCM but to say we (I) wanted you fired because of race is hypocrisy
 
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#18
#18
Pretty tacky article that paints our fanbase as a bunch of 50's era, cross-burning racists.

The petition (stupid as it was) was never directly about firing Cuonzo as much as it was about a desire to have Pearl back, even if it did indirectly create a sense that Martin was unwanted.

The real animosity wasn't towards CCM or his coaching. His teams were generally successful, though suffered some puzzling losses and he did little himself to endear himself to the fans and students. He wasn't a rah-rah guy who openly appreciated the opportunity given to him by Tennessee like Pearl did. That isn't to say he didn't appreciate it. He just wasn't as public and boisterous as Pearl about it.

The real animosity by Tennessee fans was directed at an administration, whom the fans believed did very little to stand behind Pearl, right or wrong. The fans felt that Jimmy Cheek and Mike Hamilton just laid down and didn't fight for their coach.

And so, Cuonzo Martin became collateral damage in a sense because he, through no fault of his own, just wasn't Bruce Pearl. The fans wanted a carbon copy of him, and instead, what they got was a polar opposite.

With all due respect to Josh Richardson, it had nothing to do with race. That is silly. If CCM had come in and picked up right where Pearl left off, continuing the streak of NCAAT appearances and recruiting successes, then even his dry personality would have been forgiven, and certainly the color of his skin would have been as much a non-issue as it was in reality.

The fact is, he was losing games to inferior opponents that cancelled out big wins, he wasn't doing much to promote the program and engage fans and students, and up until the second half of his final season in Knoxville, his teams hadn't really shown a ton of fire that the fans had been told Martin himself possessed.
 
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#21
#21
There's no way Martin had nearly the same pressure and fan venom that Dooley had, and that was going on for most of the time Martin was here. Sure there was some fan backlash but it wasn't nearly as bad as Dooley.
 
#23
#23
cncchris33 said:
.

With all due respect to Josh Richardson, it had nothing to do with race. That is silly. If CCM had come in and picked up right where Pearl left off, continuing the streak of NCAAT appearances and recruiting successes, then even his dry personality would have been forgiven, and certainly the color of his skin would have been as much a non-issue as it was in reality.
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This.

If we had made the NCAAT all 3 years (and that was very possible) and we had beaten all the teams we had no business losing to (Austin Peay), nobody would have cared. Sure there will always be a portion of the fanbase that are "Pearl or nobody" types, but they are morons and the minority. I don't recall any huge dropoff in attendance from Pearl's last season to Martin's first; in fact I recall very vividly the place was rocking when we beat Vandy at the end of the 2012 season and Missouri at the end of the 2013 season. Everyone got excited in both 2012 and 2013 when the team got hot.

In fact, in 2012 when the team got hot is when the fanbase was most certainly behind him, and had he even continued that fire at the beginning of 2013, the petition never happens.
 
#24
#24
The whole situation looks worse because of who Hart hired to replace Martin, and obviously the events that followed that led to where we are now. If Hart had gotten Michael White you're likely looking at a much more stable job, a better roster, and a season predicted to be much better than the current one...and most of all we aren't the poster boy for what an unstable program looks like having 3 coaches in 3 years.
 
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#25
#25
If I remember the Wad Houston country club episode correctly Johnny Majors resigned his membership when Wade was rejected. They didn't mention that.
 
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