Mar 27, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Cuonzo Martin speaks at a press conference during practice for the midwest regional of the 2014 NCAA Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Shortly after the University of Tennessee announced that athletic director Dave Hart would be available to the media on Tuesday afternoon, news broke that Cuonzo Martin has agreed to take head coaching job at California.
Tennessee's Cuonzo Martin has agreed to be head coach at California, sources told ESPN. Story coming.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 15, 2014
The news comes only two weeks after Tennessee announced they were working on a contract extension for Martin.
Martin’s name previously surfaced as a candidate for the Marquette job. He interviewed, but withdrew his name saying “Tennessee is where I want to be……I am excited about the future and remain honored to be the head basketball coach at Tennessee”.
The California job came open on March 31 when former coach Mike Montgomery retired after six seasons with the school.
One certainly can’t blame Martin for leaving Tennessee after the “Bring Back Bruce” petition that accumulated over 30,000 signatures.
But at the same time you can’t blame Vol fans for being upset after the strong words spoken by Martin just a couple of weeks ago.
Martin led the Vols to the Sweet 16 this past season. It was the only time he led UT to the NCAA tournament during his three years as head coach.