Dave Hart Quotes from Article on TOS

[CAVol]

"It's very, very important [that basketball get healthy]. We have been the last two years and now we're in the third year of being right on the cusp. Basketball is a tournament sport. It's a postseason sport. So when you're not in the postseason, which is defined in my book as the NCAA Tournament, then you lose some momentum," Hart said. "So even though we've been right there clearly both last year and the year before on the cusp of getting in the tournament, we didn't get in. And now we find ourselves with a half-dozen or so games to play and we're in that same environment. We're on the bubble. And we've got to perform really strong down the stretch to reach of our goal of being in the NCAA Tournament."

"I think it's critically important that football get healthy and to me, that priority is above everything else we can talk about because it impacts the total program," Hart said. "That's just the reality of it. It impacts the total program financially, because it supports, except for men's basketball, it supports our total program. And just how it dictates peoples' moods. I mean, it does. When football is healthy it creates momentum for the entire department.

Both from a recent article by John Brice on VQ regarding basketball attendance. The article also mentions that season ticket sales have declined since 2008-2009 from 16,645 to 12,024 in Men's Basketball. This would include while Pearl was here.

You can infer what you want from this but it tells me a couple things.

1. If we make the tournament, Cuonzo will be back. If he misses, he will be gone. That's how I see it. Hard to tell the exact way he stated the quote just by reading it, but you would think if we miss the tournament he will be gone. Hart doesn't seem pleased that we could miss it for 3 years in a row. The fact that he explicitly states that post season play means NCAA and not NIT tells me as much.

2. Football is a priority and always will be. There's nothing wrong with that. It is our biggest money maker. To me that means if we do hire a new coach, he will not be spending a ton of money on that new coach. That means we are looking at another CCM type hire if we don't get Pearl. That means guys like Marshall, Howland, and other big names mentioned would most likely be out as I don't see him spending more on a basketball coach than he is on Butch.

 

[wcm100690]

Pretty much what we all already know, Martin is coaching for his job the rest of the season.

 

[lostsheep]

If he's making the call strictly based on us reaching the tourney, then that's concerning.

I would think he would have to consider the attendance problem as well. Even if this team gets in this year, the lack of overall confidence in CCM and the players (or lack thereof) returning spells doom for next year's attendance, IMO.

 

[knowthevols]

If Martin makes the tournament and is retained then I think the basketball program totally collapses in the few years CCM remains. If he makes the tourney a lot of folks will not renew their season tickets and attendance will fall even farther and will hasten the return of the black curtains. The program will go back to how it was 20 years ago. Sadness.

 

[SeniorDrill]

Martin is defending his job. How ironic is it that the 1-3-1 zone could save it? It is Tennessee's shut down defense. They ran it almost the entire second half against Alabama and shut them down. It then basically disappeared. They ran it 7 of the last 10 minutes and Florida did not score off of it except for 2 free throws. It then disappeared again and basically is still missing! ??????

 

[Sudden Impact]

Can't argue with you on the analysis of Hart's comments. We seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Pearl which all have stated was the best thing that has happened to Vol men's basketball since Ernie, Bernie, and Coach Mears.

Pearl's rehire rests on Cheek's decision. This is why I don't think it happens.

 

[knowthevols]

Can't argue with you on the analysis of Hart's comments. We seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Pearl which all have stated was the best thing that has happened to Vol men's basketball since Ernie, Bernie, and Coach Mears.

Pearl's rehire rests on Cheek's decision. This is why I don't think it happens.

Then we as fans have a choice to make too.

 

[Spartacavolus]

Martin's latest comments about Stokes not getting the ball the last 17 minutes? In summary:
-Stokes has to do a better job. Guards were doing a good job early, then some 3's fell and they got caught up in the game, and needed to do a better job getting Stokes the ball.

I don't know what to say, that hasn't already been said.

About his use of the timeout after late 3's?
-he wants to get guys in and get settled down. Really get them focused and lock in.

I guess he, nor any of his dumbass assistants, has looked to see that his late timeouts DONT WORK! (it takes a lot for me to use all caps). He didn't hint that its a bad idea, hurts momentum, that we get outscored everytime he does it, and that it leads to losses as we get beaten down the stretch against teams that are playing ball rather than "locking in".

 

[lostsheep]

Martin is defending his job. How ironic is it that the 1-3-1 zone could save it? It is Tennessee's shut down defense. They ran it almost the entire second half against Alabama and shut them down. It then basically disappeared. They ran it 7 of the last 10 minutes and Florida did not score off of it except for 2 free throws. It then disappeared again and basically is still missing! ??????

The 1-3-1 could save CCM's job??

I'm afraid the problems are much deeper than what defensive alignment we use.

 

[Sudden Impact]

Then we as fans have a choice to make too.

Yea we do....

Do we not attend games? Boycott the team or games. All that does is tell future recruits that they are not supported and the team is not supported.

A little bit different than football, but if you can't bring fans into fill the seats then we know Vol basketball disappears into obscurity.

Catch 22.

Like Dooley I think Martin was brought into the program to settle it down with the NCAA.

Both are not great coaches but they did get some things right with the in recovery period.

 

[whocaresgobobcats]

Martin is defending his job. How ironic is it that the 1-3-1 zone could save it? It is Tennessee's shut down defense. They ran it almost the entire second half against Alabama and shut them down. It then basically disappeared. They ran it 7 of the last 10 minutes and Florida did not score off of it except for 2 free throws. It then disappeared again and basically is still missing! ??????

oh oh one more post about the 1-3-1 please!

 

[orangeluvr]

Hart is sending Counzo subliminal messages. :yes:

 

[92volalum]

What more concerning is he never states championships as a perf goal which is sickening.. It means he just wants to be avg at best n bb which means budget coaches.

Pearl will not be back because hart will not allow it. He will not hire someone with more pull with fans n boosters than he has. The same reason we didn't hire a home run name ff coach..btw

Hart wants to be big man on campus and with boosters so he can get more plastic surgery at a discount...

 

[utvolpj]

What more concerning is he never states championships as a perf goal which is sickening.. It means he just wants to be avg at best n bb which means budget coaches.

Pearl will not be back because hart will not allow it. He will not hire someone with more pull with fans n boosters than he has. The same reason we didn't hire a home run name ff coach..btw

Hart wants to be big man on campus and with boosters so he can get more plastic surgery at a discount...

seems to me the bring back Bruce crowd would be happy with championships not being on the list of qualifications

 

[cncchris33]

oh oh one more post about the 1-3-1 please!

I'm starting to think the 1-3-1 zone defense is his sponsor and he is obligated to mention it in every post similar to a NASCAR driver mentioning every sponsor on his car in an interview.

 

[cncchris33]

Three things I take from those Hart quotes.

1. He isn't satisfied missing the tournament three years in a row. CCM has been put on notice publicly now. A change may come if he misses it.

2. However, a change will only be facilitated if the financials are right, because as he said, football comes first. This means, to me, that they won't break the bank for a proven big name, and most likely, after paying Martin's buyout, we will be bargain hunting again hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. Some things never change.

3. Hart has low-level expectations for our basketball program. I had hoped for more given his basketball background, but he seems like Doug Dickey part deux.

 

[Special Ed]

I don't know what Cheek’s feelings are regarding Coach Pearl, but if he can look at the burgeoning groundswell of support for bringing back the only coach who’s proven that he can get the job done at UT and either ignore that fact or stand in opposition to the rehiring of Bruce Almighty, then he may be putting his own job in jeopardy. If that’s the case, then we’ll just have to turn the other Cheek and bring in someone who has the best interests of the sports programs at heart.

 

[Captain3484]

seems to me the bring back Bruce crowd would be happy with championships not being on the list of qualifications

Or to the optimist, it could be he is a realist and acknowledges that we have never won the championship in bball and there is not a "return to our past form" aspect of our bball program.

With football, we are and always have been one of the top programs in the country - so putting an emphasis on returning our main money maker back to its dominant form is the main priority.

I swear some of you just enjoy finding the negative side of everything. Perk up! :dance2:

 

[SeniorDrill]

oh oh one more post about the 1-3-1 please!

Rather unusual moniker from someone invading this forum!

 

[Fijivol72]

I am afraid given his performance at Fl. St. and then Alabama he has no interest in our BB program. I was in Tallahassee for much of his tenure and basketball was and probably still played at the Civic Center. He may not be much but on one thing it is clear he could give a rats a about bb.

 

[SeniorDrill]

I'm starting to think the 1-3-1 zone defense is his sponsor and he is obligated to mention it in every post similar to a NASCAR driver mentioning every sponsor on his car in an interview.

They won't if they don't use it. As long as Cuonzo gets the message, it does not matter what you think! eace2:

 

[volroadwarrior]

Martin's latest comments about Stokes not getting the ball the last 17 minutes? In summary:
-Stokes has to do a better job. Guards were doing a good job early, then some 3's fell and they got caught up in the game, and needed to do a better job getting Stokes the ball.

I don't know what to say, that hasn't already been said.

About his use of the timeout after late 3's?
-he wants to get guys in and get settled down. Really get them focused and lock in.

I guess he, nor any of his dumbass assistants, has looked to see that his late timeouts DONT WORK! (it takes a lot for me to use all caps). He didn't hint that its a bad idea, hurts momentum, that we get outscored everytime he does it, and that it leads to losses as we get beaten down the stretch against teams that are playing ball rather than "locking in".

This also tells me that CCM believes that is better to have focus on the task at hand and not let the team's emotions get too high or too low. This might work great in Chess or Checkers, but I believe getting fired up and maintaining momentum works best for BB. I also believe that the CCM coaching style is to keep the team focused and not let emotions run wild. That is what he is capable of and doesn't seem to have the ability to fire up a team and get them to over achieve. JMO

 

[99gator]

Martin is defending his job. How ironic is it that the 1-3-1 zone could save it? It is Tennessee's shut down defense. They ran it almost the entire second half against Alabama and shut them down. It then basically disappeared. They ran it 7 of the last 10 minutes and Florida did not score off of it except for 2 free throws. It then disappeared again and basically is still missing! ??????

I see this repeated over and over again.

Certain defenses work better vs certain opponents.

You don't play every team the same way.

Only certain schools do. Syracuse is almost exclusively zone. Duke is almost exclusively man to man.

Most clubs play to the weakness of their opponent.

The 1-3-1 isn't the answer against the entire schedule

 

[volroadwarrior]

I see this repeated over and over again.

Certain defenses work better vs certain opponents.

You don't play every team the same way.

Only certain schools do. Syracuse is almost exclusively zone. Duke is almost exclusively man to man.

Most clubs play to the weakness of their opponent.

The 1-3-1 isn't the answer against the entire schedule

Not according to the coaching gurus on this board.

 

[VolGee4]

Three things I take from those Hart quotes.

1. He isn't satisfied missing the tournament three years in a row. CCM has been put on notice publicly now. A change may come if he misses it.

2. However, a change will only be facilitated if the financials are right, because as he said, football comes first. This means, to me, that they won't break the bank for a proven big name, and most likely, after paying Martin's buyout, we will be bargain hunting again hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. Some things never change.

3. Hart has low-level expectations for our basketball program. I had hoped for more given his basketball background, but he seems like Doug Dickey part deux.

Not sure about 3. Football has be so bad in the last 5 years that he has to get that right (which I believe he has). But, he doesn't want to take a chance messing it up right now. If we were in the middle of the Fulmer years, his attitude toward basketball might be different.