Move Over Marquette, Cuonzo Martin Is Heading Home!
By Zach Ragan
Mar 27, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Cuonzo Martin during practice for the midwest regional of the 2014 NCAA Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports
Various reports surfaced late Sunday evening that Cuonzo Martin met with officials from Marquette to discuss their vacant head coaching position.
Well, it now looks like Martin won’t be taking the job at Marquette.
Unfortunately for Vol fans, it doesn’t look like he’s staying in Knoxville either.
According to multiple media reports, Cuonzo Martin will resign from Tennessee on Tuesday afternoon, in order to focus on his Illinois state senate campaign.
Martin will be running for the state senate seat in the 57th district (his home district) of Illinois. The seat is currently held by democrat James Clayborne Jr. The former Vols head coach will be running as an independent.
It’s a bit of a shock to see Martin leave the Vols for a possible state senate bid, but according to Martin himself, “it’s always been a dream to run for political office”.
Martin said part of his reasoning for running for state office is to focus on hot-button issues. Some of those issues include keeping the white-tailed deer as the state mamal of Illinois and the introduction of sports psychology into the state curriculum.
The East Saint Louis native said he wouldn’t rule out a return to coaching in the future, but he was also quick to add that he hopes to make a US Congress run at some point in the future.
Sherman Douglas will serve as Martin’s campaign manager.
This of course means the Vols will be forced to look for another coach. Fans will inevitably clamor for Bruce Pearl, but the former Vol coach is “firmly” committed to Auburn.
However, Steven Pearl (Bruce’s son) has emerged as a serious candidate for the Vols. Pearl is currently an assistant on his father’s staff. Other candidates include Duke assistant coach Jeff Capel and former Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio.
Dave Hart said he hopes to have a new coach in place by April 15, which is exactly two weeks from today………….April 1.
Happy April Fools’ Day!