Cuonzo to Tennessee

[tornado]

Here's an ironic story...........
THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT BRUCE PEARL'S SLEAZINESS HAS IMPACTED CUONZO MARTIN'S LIFE IN A MAJOR WAY...


Cuonzo Martin came out of East St. Louis (Lincoln)...and is one of IHSA's 100 All Time Legends..and was All State in 1989 & 1990...
He led ESL HS to STATE all four years in high school and was about to go to Illinois in 1990, when...........

you guessed it...Iowa assistant coach Bruce Pearl ratted on Illinois to NCAA and Illinois came under investigation then subsequently got hammered with sanctions...

This caused Cuonzo to back off his choice of Illinois and go to Purdue instead...
the rest is history........now Bruce Pearl's sleaziness comes back to impact Cuonzo once again!!!

[SaintLouBrave22]

I feel sorry for Cuonzo...

Their fans are morons and have low basketball IQs if they have no idea who he is at this point...

He's a great coach and more than that, he's a great person...certainly much more integrity than Pearl!


I really hope he does well there and those people can actually realize that it doesn't take having a cheater to win!

That said, where does Mizzou turn now? Jacobsen possibly? Marshall?


The Valley could be quite different here next year...

[tornado]

This report says Cuonzo was making $140K base salary at MSU with total package around $300K -- plus by leaving he owes Missouri State $250K...
He will probably make a little more at Tennessee..so you can't blame him for taking the new job

http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2011/mar/28/cuonzo-martins-base-salary-missouri-state-was-1400/

This page also contains a poll in which less than 25% of those responding "agree with the hiring" (well over 8000 votes)

[FlyingSpaghettiMonster]

I feel sorry for Cuonzo...

Their fans are morons and have low basketball IQs if they have no idea who he is at this point...

He's a great coach and more than that, he's a great person...certainly much more integrity than Pearl!


I really hope he does well there and those people can actually realize that it doesn't take having a cheater to win!

That said, where does Mizzou turn now? Jacobsen possibly? Marshall?


The Valley could be quite different here next year...

I don't feel bad for him one bit. I'm sure he got a monster pay increase and gets to coach at a much bigger program. He seems to be a solid coach and the criticism will be quickly forgotten as long as he wins. Good luck to him!

[tornado]

some names mentioned to replace Cuonzo

http://blogs.news-leader.com/msu/2011/03/28/tossing-out-namees-for-msu-job/

[tornado]

Here's the world's funniest Cuonzo Martin tweet -- from a Tennessee fan..

"Cuonzo Martin is like getting underwear for Christmas.
Not what you wanted, but clean and will support your boys."

http://twitter.com/#!/UTKnoxVols/status/52745144411234304

[Fetz86]

hahaha, that is a good one.

[tornado]

Here's abunch of Cuonzo news out of Tennessee...

-Cuonzo says he is NOT going to grant a release from LOI for the top incoming recruits and wants to meet with the kids, Kevin Ware and Chris Jones

http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2011/mar/30/cuonzo-martin-wants-meet-kevin-ware-granting-relea/?partner=popular

-Cuonzo hires his top assistant from Missouri state to come over and be on staff at Tennessee...Jon Harris from Edwardsville, IL

http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2011/mar/30/cuonzo-martin-hires-jon-harris-missouri-state-assi/?partner=popular

-writer predicts that Cuonzo's style will turn off some fans...
but what he means is that Cuonzo plays by the rules, does not cut corners, and recruits GOOD kids.....while Pearl was always breaking rules, going after thugs and bad boys...etc...

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110330/COLUMNIST0202/103300316/David-Climer-Martin-s-style-may-turn-off-fans?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2011/mar/30/david-climer-cuonzo-martins-style-may-turn-ut-fans/?partner=popular

[SFP]

Here's abunch of Cuonzo news out of Tennessee...

-Cuonzo says he is NOT going to grant a release from LOI for the top incoming recruits and wants to meet with the kids, Kevin Ware and Chris Jones
http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2011/...artner=popular

Where are the poster who screamed at the Admins for not releasing the incoming recruits right away from their LOI. This is standard operating procedure from any new coach.

I wonder when we will get word back from our other recruits.

[tornado]

Cuonzo Martin wins another Coach of the Year award...Congrats to the new Tennessee coach..
"THE 2011 BEN JOBE AWARD" -- per collegeinsider.com awarded to the best "minority coach" in college basketball....

http://www.collegeinsider.com/jobe/

Here's a bizarre story.........all these internet sites were just bought up...
but not by people who want to fire Cuonzo -- but by people who want to squat on those sites so nobody else can have them ..
...specifically an assistant Communications Director at Tennessee...
"firecuonzo.com"
"firecuonzomartin.com"
"firecoachmartin.com"

"embarrassing: It looks like the UT athletic department is afraid of its own fans"

http://www.lostlettermen.com/tennesse-anti-martin-sites/

[tornado]

Cuonzo hires ex-DePaul head coach and ex-Kentucky assistant Tracy Webster as assistant at Tennessee...
he also keeps Houston Fancher on as DBO...
Cuonzo also brings two assistants from MSU with him, Jon Harris & Kent williams...

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/apr/05/cuonzo-martin-names-houston-fancher-director-baske/

[Da Coach]

Tracy Webster has also had a history of repeated NCAA recruiting violations.

Kentucky reported recruiting violations by Webster when he was an assistant coach there-

http://kykernel.com/2009/09/22/mens-basketball-reports-5-violations-in-last-year/#

He also committed NCAA violations while at DePaul-

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/DePaul-offers-eighth-grader-a-scholly-commits-v?urn=ncaab-219591