Today On Rocky Top: Vols Continue Search For Martin’s Replacement

Mar 23, 2014; Raleigh, NC, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Cuonzo Martin reacts to a play against the Mercer Bears during the second half of a men

From The Times Free Press

"Dave Hart woke up Wednesday morning in a less than ideal situation having to replace a basketball coach heading into late April, but it’s certainly not an intimidating scenario for Tennessee’s athletic director.For the man in his third year in charge of the Volunteers’ athletic department, it’s another opportunity to put his stamp on Tennessee by putting his pick in a key coaching position.The first 24 hours after Cuonzo Martin abruptly left to take the California job brought little in the way of concrete developments in Tennessee’s search, but with the season long over and no other major programs still with coaching vacancies, that figures to change soon.“You look for the track record,” Hart said at his news conference on Tuesday afternoon. “You look for somebody that can recruit. Our lifeblood is recruiting in all of our sports. When you go into a process like this, you want to be sure that the person you’re hiring is an outstanding recruiter. You also want a person that brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm.Read more at the Times Free Press"

From The Times Free Press

"So did anything happen in Knoxville this week?Sweet buckets of sidewinding and finger pointing, Cuonzo Martin packed his bag and left as the University of Tennessee basketball coach. The news generated a ton of consternation and national sportswriters are banging on the UT program.Some of it’s deserved. Some of it is getting to be a bit much.So it goes. The Vols athletic department is an easy target right now.But rather than keep the self-flagellation going, let’s review what got us to the point where Martin went from couldn’t coach his way out of a wet paper pick-and-roll to being the next best thing to John Wooden.The online petition from Tennessee fans asking for Bruce Pearl to return was a poor choice. It was a bad idea then, and it gets worse by the week, especially now that UT is going to try to hire a new coach to replace a guy that ultimately made the Sweet 16 and was run out of town.Read more at the Times Free Press"

From WBIR

"Six Tennessee pitchers combined to allow two runs, strike out 12 and walked none while retiring the last 17 batters as No. 29 Tennessee pushed past Western Carolina 6-2 on Wednesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.The win is Tennessee’s third in a row against the Catamounts (24-12) and improves the Vols to 24-11 overall this season.Bret Marks and Drake Owenby gave up eight hits over the first four innings and then handed the ball off to Trevor Bettencourt, Peter Lenstrohm, Josh Petersonand Andrew Lee, who took over from there."