Was Cuonzo Martin Set up to Fail by Vols as Head Coach of Tennessee Basketball?
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
Deeper than the Surface
While Martin did a solid job at Tennessee and looks like he was given an unfair rep, it goes deeper than what the article just reported on the surface.
To be fair, the article addresses some of it. Tennessee booster Larry Smith first noted the public perception. Cuonzo Martin did not do himself any favors, according to a quote from Smith.
"“Cuonzo stays in the office so much and never got into the community that much,” Smith said. “They wouldn’t do that to Bruce Pearl. Bruce Pearl was everywhere. It was just [Martin’s] demeanor.”"
Again, there is nothing wrong with that when your job is to win basketball games. But coming off of a guy who put Tennessee basketball on the national map, you could see why the boosters would be hesitant to support somebody who would not go out of his way to generate the same interest. Martin’s demeanor is perfect for a big-time program like UNC or Duke.
But Tennessee is a school that needs a bit of a splash. Martin was not that.
Also, addressing the issue with the private plane, there was a comment that the university pulled the plane because Martin was using it to apply for other jobs. Before we jump to blame the administration, somebody needs to investigate how true that is.
Did Martin use the private plane for his personal affairs? Because if he did, then you could see why they would pull it. However, that needs to be looked into deeper.
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Now, let’s go to the court. Coming off of six straight NCAA Tournament appearances, it’s not like Martin did not inherit a solid team his first year in Knoxville. Yes, he lost some recruits and other players to early departures, but his entire starting five was made up of four four-stars and one five-star.
So to say he inherited a bad team is simply inaccurate. To be fair, that one five-star, Jarnell Stokes, could not play until the second half of the season. But there were five four-stars on the team beforehand, and the Vols still were a dismal 8-8 on the year with losses to Oakland, Austin Peay, and Charlotte. So you could not absolve him fully. A strong finish was not enough to make the tournament.
The excuse was players needed time to adjust to his system. But the next year, the same thing happened. They started slow, finished strong, and it wasn’t enough to get in. But we forgave him again because of the injury to Jerronne Maymon that year.
Finally, in his third year, he needed to win. Martin had everybody back from the year before, Maymon was healthy, and he added five-star Robert Hubbs. But there was another inexplicable slow start to the year.
At 16-11 and 7-7 in the SEC, Vols fans had seen Martin’s teams come up short for three years, and while he nailed a couple of big recruits, the recruiting for the following year looked awful.
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The strong finish, meanwhile, changed everything. Tennessee lost one game after that until they made the Sweet Sixteen, where they were robbed against Michigan. To be fair, Martin got hit with bad luck this year as well, as Hubbs was struck with a season-ending injury, and the lack of support from the fan base was probably a reason recruiting was so bad.
But that does not mean fans were unfair, as they had seen him struggling for three years.
What’s more is there is one more reason Martin had a rough time.
Next: The Bruce Pearl Effect