A little perspective is needed

#52
#52
Enjoy the ride while it lasts.
If we lose to Michigan the finger pointers will return in force.
If we win there will be excuses like the refs won it for us.
Some people just wouldn't be happy if they won the Buffet billion. it's life in the real world.
 
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#54
#54
C-town Vol said:
I agree...I think those of us wanting Bruce Back were wrong in the short term...we jumped the gun...we weren't rational. However, I am by no means saying Martin is the guy who will be awesome for the next decade. I'm simply saying at this point he has earned another couple years to prove himself.
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Rational or not, at the time Martin was showing no signs of life as a coach. Bruce was available and some fans wanted their voice to be heard. I understand their reasoning.

I'm not ready to give Martin a raise or extension just yet. I don't think he has earned or proven enough. Lets see how this weekend plays out.
 
#55
#55
40Cap said:
I was one of those who was unhappy/pissed/disappointed w/ how we played earlier in the year, I think all VOL fans were. I'm loving the run we're on now, and am not going to dwell on the negative. I agree a 3 yr extension might be unwarranted at this time, but some extension is in order. Difficult to recruit when your HC is twisting in the wind.
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pretty much. Except all of a sudden we have a few that don't even admit to the bad coaching and playing earlier in the year and over the last 3 years.
I don't know what they were watching.
 
#57
#57
OP needs a filthy stankin stunner...Sorry we don't get to pick the teams we play late in the season. You do realize we beat the team that upset Duke by 20 right?
 
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#58
#58
calban said:
Enjoy the ride while it lasts.
If we lose to Michigan the finger pointers will return in force.
If we win there will be excuses like the refs won it for us.
Some people just wouldn't be happy if they won the Buffet billion. it's life in the real world.
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it comes down to how we play for me. I can handle it if we attack and compete like wichy state and ky did. If we happen to revert at the worst time to old habits and score @ 55 pts or so, it will open wounds.

Just go for it. Go down swinging, be the aggressor and I'm good with how it ends.
 
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#59
#59
In 2010 UT went in as a 6 seat, they just got by San Diego St. 11 seat ,62-59. The lucked out that Ohio beat a 3 seat and beat Ohio 14 seat, 83-68. to get to the sweet 16 and we were happy. Glad they won next over Ohio St. and hope they win over UM. How about we just be happy were they have gotten and hope they can keep going. They beat an 11-6-14 in less then a week. Great job team, keep it up.
 
#60
#60
volgr said:
Rational or not, at the time Martin was showing no signs of life as a coach. Bruce was available and some fans wanted their voice to be heard. I understand their reasoning.

I'm not ready to give Martin a raise or extension just yet. I don't think he has earned or proven enough. Lets see how this weekend plays out.
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I was one of those calling for Bruce so I understand the sentiment of why.

The problem is with what has transpired in the last month, there is NO WAY that Cuonzo is getting fired (which I'm sure you agree). However, as you also likely know, there is NO WAY you can let Cuonzo go into the last year of his contract without an extension. It would affect recruiting, cast a shadow over the entire next season not to mention cast a negative light concerning UT in the coaching fraternity thereby potentially diminishing our chances of hiring a quality coach if it didn't work out for Cuonzo.

I think you have to give him an extension...it doesn't have to be 5 years...but 2 years sounds reasonable. That would give him 3 years on his contract. You play out the next 2 seasons and decide do you want to eat that 3rd year or extend him again based on his body of work. But make no mistake...even the pros operate this way...you are doing yourself no good by sending a coach into the last year of his contract without an extension. It would hurt the program more than having to eat a buy out.
 
#61
#61
You are in the S16. If you don't appreciate that and enjoy it there's something wrong with you. Fans of a bunch of teams would love to be where you are now.

On the other hand, there's also nothing wrong with a little healthy skepticism about the path to get there and what lies ahead.

The two are not mutually exclusive, but you guys seems so anxious to categorize people as either on board totally, or negavol.
 
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#62
#62
Spartacavolus said:
pretty much. Except all of a sudden we have a few that don't even admit to the bad coaching and playing earlier in the year and over the last 3 years.
I don't know what they were watching.
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I don't know, I think everyone acknowledges that we drastically under-performed for a large part of the regular season this year (not so sure I agree w/ that w/ regard to previous 2). My point is why dwell on that when we are right where we would have been even if we had played well earlier. Judge CCM on his body of work without over/underplaying what's happened the last 4 weeks, but in the meantime enjoy the ride.
 
#63
#63
C-town Vol said:
I think you have to give him an extension...it doesn't have to be 5 years...but 2 years sounds reasonable. That would give him 3 years on his contract. You play out the next 2 seasons and decide do you want to eat that 3rd year or extend him again based on his body of work. But make no mistake...even the pros operate this way...you are doing yourself no good by sending a coach into the last year of his contract without an extension. It would hurt the program more than having to eat a buy out.
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He was so close (play-in game) to getting canned it is now hard to say what should be done until you see how he finishes the tourney. It is a crazy situation. Making a call before seeing the end of the season, I'd give him a year extension, 2 at the very most and see what happens next year with play on the court and recruiting.

:edit: If he gets a 3 year extension it should come with a very low buyout. I'm tired (as well as the AD should be) of getting stuck with mediocre coaches with big buyouts.
 
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#64
#64
40Cap said:
And if we'd played this well earlier in the season guess where we'd be right now? Exactly where we are... water under the bridge.
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No way anyone can say that. The only fact known for sure is that we are peaking at the right time. Very often if you peak too early you fall apart later on (most teams, even in NBA, are not able to maintain the same type of consistency throughout the whole year). Coaches deserve the credit for working the team hard and not getting distracted with the noise coming from the fans - the team believed that hard work would eventually pay off and it's great to see it happening.
 
#65
#65
40Cap said:
I don't know, I think everyone acknowledges that we drastically under-performed for a large part of the regular season this year (not so sure I agree w/ that w/ regard to previous 2). My point is why dwell on that when we are right where we would have been even if we had played well earlier. Judge CCM on his body of work without over/underplaying what's happened the last 4 weeks, but in the meantime enjoy the ride.
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I'm fired up. Had jitters last week for the first time in years. Have them already this week. I went from confident we'd be here before the season, to unsure, to pissed, to hopeful, to surprised, to uh oh, to holy ****. The last part of the ride has been the best. Funnest ball I've seen us play in years as well. Avg @ 77 pts per with a stout D is something I'll pay for all day.
 
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#66
#66
volgr said:
He was so close (play-in game) to getting canned it is now hard to say what should be done until you see how he finishes the tourney. It is a crazy situation. Making a call before seeing the end of the season, I'd give him a year extension, 2 at the very most and see what happens next year with play on the court and recruiting.
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sounds like we agree...it is an awkward situation...but he has moved out of the realm of being fired...so I think you have to give him at least a small extension/raise in hopes that things will progress forward. I do think what has been proven is that he won't run things into the ground like Dooley did the football program.
 
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#67
#67
An extension is necessary for recruiting. A raise is deserved because of the post season results. To leave Coach Martin as the 10th or 11th highest paid coach in the league and without an extension after this season tells potential recruits and potential future coaches that this place is full of inmates who run the asylum. As a result, no one in their right mind would come here to play or to coach.

Why is this so hard to understand?
 
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#68
#68
C-town Vol said:
...but he has moved out of the realm of being fired...
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I hate to take options off the table. What if we come out and get spanked by Michigan? Reverting back to our early season form? Then when you look down the schedule of wins this season you don't see much at all to be happy with. Wins over average to poor teams (minus UVa), very little in the way of quality wins, and some really bad losses.

This is why it is overly simplistic for fans to say, "we are in the Sweet 16, where we should be, so the season is water under the bridge". Which is why most sane people do not evaluate based solely on outcome.
 
#71
#71
volgr said:
Would I have said it was possible in January? If you would have told me we would draw UMass and Mercer then yeah I would have thought it would be possible. Maybe not probable, but possible.
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I was under an impression that we might miss the tourney again. so I am happy that team is here.

also, We played Mercer because they defeated Duke. This team was coming in with great confidnece. crowd behind them, and we destroyed them.
 
#72
#72
CMvol said:
also, We played Mercer because they defeated Duke. This team was coming in with great confidnece. crowd behind them, and we destroyed them.
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Mercer was hot that day, Duke was not. It happens. I hope Michigan shoots like crap in that Indy dome.
 
#73
#73
volgr said:
I hate to take options off the table. What if we come out and get spanked by Michigan? Reverting back to our early season form? Then when you look down the schedule of wins this season you don't see much at all to be happy with. Wins over average to poor teams (minus UVa), very little in the way of quality wins, and some really bad losses.

This is why it is overly simplistic for fans to say, "we are in the Sweet 16, where we should be, so the season is water under the bridge". Which is why most sane people do not evaluate based solely on outcome.
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How many people were on here complaining that Martin should be fired because he's not made the NCAA tournament? A lot. But now that he has, there's no good wins. What will be enough?
 
#74
#74
volgr said:
I hate to take options off the table. What if we come out and get spanked by Michigan? Reverting back to our early season form? Then when you look down the schedule of wins this season you don't see much at all to be happy with. Wins over average to poor teams (minus UVa), very little in the way of quality wins, and some really bad losses.

This is why it is overly simplistic for fans to say, "we are in the Sweet 16, where we should be, so the season is water under the bridge". Which is why most sane people do not evaluate based solely on outcome.
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You may not want to take that option off the table but I would bet the AD has. I'm no insider but the national PR hit of firing Cuonzo after this run would be monumental...and would scare potential coaches away. And one can say, "I don't want a coach who would be scared anyway." However, a high level coach would look at the situation as dysfunctional...good coaches are good coaches because they are smart...no smart guy is walking into what they perceive to be dysfunction.
 
#75
#75
Hey, I've saved my job before after sucking wind most of the year. Ain't too proud to admit it. The question is how many times. Anywhere from 2-14 more than likely.
 
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