We all support UT. It's ok to be critical of any coach.
Should' we have done a better job of supporting Cuonzo or Tyndall?
This is embarrassing and a reason our program was in the situation it was when Barnes got here. This fanbase is one of the most negative in the nation and turns on coaches so quick. Wonder why we keep losing them...........
Go back and watch some games and look at the crowds. Check the attendance numbers.
He got way more fan interest and support than the last two coaches.
Go back and watch some games and look at the crowds. Check the attendance numbers.
He got way more fan interest and support than the last two coaches.
Game attendance and fan support for a particular coach aren't mutually exclusive. Zo followed up arguably the most popular coach and most successful string of consecutive seasons in modern program history. Those fans had been starving for a winning program, and they finally had it. Attendance has fallen every year with the exception of one year in which the average varied by 100 fans or so, since Bruce Pearl was fired.
Zo was certainly not given universal support from the beginning, despite attendance numbers, for one reason, and that reason is that he wasn't Bruce Pearl. In fact, he was the anti-Bruce Pearl in just about every way. Some fans resented him for that reason alone. The high attendance numbers his first two seasons were a result of a general increased fan interest in our program during the 6 years of the Pearl era and that doesn't just drop off a cliff immediately. That interest has since steadily declined along with our success, and the casual fan who didn't attend games before Pearl has found other things to do again instead of coming out to TBA on a Wednesday night.
I understand all that and I've tried to explain it to others on this board.
Regardless, the fans were interested, engaged and attending. Rick Barnes would kill for the crowds Zo regularly got into TBA.
Fans gave him plenty of support.
Sure, Barnes would kill for those Cuonzo crowds. He'd have had them too if he immediately followed Pearl and not Donnie Tyndall and Martin.
Fans gave the program plenty of support, not necessarily the coach.
Cuonzo got plenty of support. No he wasn't Pearl and he wasn't loved like Pearl but he got plenty of support. More than most basketball coaches in the country. Can't compare him to Pearl cause he wasn't Pearl.
Completely missing the point. The numbers you keep lauding are run-off from the Pearl era. Do you understand this concept, or are you deliberately dodging this point?