Today On Rocky Top: Martin & Vols Working On New Contract

Feb 18, 2014; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Cuonzo Martin during the first half against the Georgia Bulldogs at Thompson-Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

From The Daily Beacon

"Cuonzo Martin is staying put as Tennessee men’s basketball head coach.The UT athletics department released joint statements from Martin and Athletic Director Dave Hart on Tuesday afternoon stating the third-year coach would remain at his current position and that contract modifications are underway.“We are proud that Cuonzo Martin will continue to lead our men’s basketball program,” Hart said in the release. “His three Tennessee teams have finished in the upper echelon of the SEC, and each of those teams entered the month of March in contention for an NCAA tournament bid. His third team excelled in the postseason.”“We are working on modifications to Cuonzo’s current contract and will release details of those adjustments when finalized.”Tuesday’s statements come amid an ESPN report that claimed Martin met with Marquette officials regarding its vacant head coaching spot on Sunday."

From The Times Free Press

"Tuesday should have been Cuonzo Martin’s day in the limelight. A brief flirtation — or was it a money grab disguised as hurt feelings? — with Marquette behind him, a new Tennessee contract apparently in the works, it should have been his moment finally to feel the love and the focus of the Big Orange Nation, if not much of the sports world.Instead, Tiger Woods had to go and pull out of next week’s Masters due to an aching back. On April Fool’s Day, of all days. And when Tiger’s back means he won’t be back at Augusta National this spring, every other sports story kind of goes to the back burner.But in focusing on why Martin’s return to the Big Orange for a fourth season seems to lack much joy and excitement, perhaps it’s just as instructive to draw a comparison between the Masters without Tiger and the reality that UT basketball is now without Bruce Pearl forevermore.Both Pearl and Woods bring unmatched excitement to their craft. And brilliance. And memorable moment stacked upon memorable moment. How many of us in my profession have written in the past that Sunday afternoons at the Masters, the U.S. Open, heck, the John Deere/Red Bull/Ping/Greater Holy Toledo Classic are just a heck of a lot more fun and interesting with Tiger on the prowl?And regardless of the fact that Pearl deserved to be fired three years ago for lying to the NCAA or that Bruce Au-mighty has now been the Auburn coach for 16 days, Big Orange basketball always felt more fun and interesting with him on the sideline."

From The Times Free Press

"Depending on your perspective, Tennessee offensive lineman Jacob Gilliam is one of two things.For the last four years, the 6-foot-4, 287-pound Farragut High School graduate was a walk-on who gave hours and days and weeks and months of unappreciated work for the Volunteers.For the past few practices, Gilliam has been Tennessee’s first-team left tackle.Both of the labels apply to the fifth-year senior, and now he’s trying to use the first to make the latter also apply.“Nothing is guaranteed, ever, especially for a walk-on,” Gilliam said after the Vols practiced Tuesday. “Anybody out there that’s been a walk-on knows that. You’ve got to come to work every day no matter how you feel or what it’s like, and you’ve got to outwork somebody that obviously they’ve invested a lot of time and money into.“That’s what I just try to come with every day, knowing that at a moment’s notice I could be replaced.”Unless Dontavius Blair, a touted junior college transfer who joined the Vols in January, picks it up the final two weeks of spring practice, Gilliam’s status might stick as the Vols try to find a replacement for the departed Tiny Richardson."