Cuonzo supporters put to rest

Barnes is the best coach we have had by far. No one has disputed that.

Some people act like Tyndall was a better coach or Zo was a terrible underperfromer. Neither are true. For some strange reason he is held to a different standard.

Despite inheriting similar situations as coaches who followed . And got further than either of them his third year before he left. But for some strange reason people say he underacheived.

Lmao
We got used to making the tourney every season under Pearl. Barely making it in Zo’s final season wasn’t properly appreciated, I guess.
 
Not his fault. Tyndall made a trash heap. Barnes didn't follow Zo.

Cal made a bad hire to follow. You can see improvement in basketball by the second year with a good coach. Maybe the first.

Mizzou got a lot better with Zo. Cal got a lot worse when he left. Not sure that helps your argument that he is a bad coach. 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃
I think it's pretty easy to see the trend with Martin... he brings talent with him when he moves, but then doesn't recruit well while he's there. He left a bare cupboard at Tennessee and California and then changed jobs just before his lack of recruiting had time to catch up with him. Martin was one year ahead of the ax in both places. Go to a Cal board and see their opinion of the state Martin left them in... I guarantee you will not find any positive opinions of him.
 
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Barnes is the best coach we have had by far. No one has disputed that.

Some people act like Tyndall was a better coach or Zo was a terrible underperfromer. Neither are true. For some strange reason he is held to a different standard.

Despite inheriting similar situations as coaches who followed . And got further than either of them his third year before he left. But for some strange reason people say he underacheived.

Lmao

You are assessing everything as a whole. I didn’t have an issue with years one and two under CM. Year three was one of the most frustrating I have watched. He eventually got where we needed to go, but they made it so difficult with the inconsistent play.

One difference between he and Barnes is that Barnes had to do more retooling of the roster. The roster left after Tyndall was horrendous. You can speculate all you want but Martin wasn’t recruiting well enough to sustain success. Heck, he had 3 NBA picks at Cal and another that has played in the NBA and had an ok year. That program fell afterwards too.

I am never going to bash the guy. I really like him as a person. Great story. But his offense is horrendous, and he still hasn’t shown that he can sustain success at a program. Maybe he can at Missouri.
 
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Cuonzo flies to CA on UT's dime, supposedly to recruit for UT, and instead interviews for the Cal job and steers the recruit to Cal. Great, high character guy right there. But the donors are racists for limiting how he can use their planes.

Cuonzo promotes a divide between his players and UT fans. Great, high character guy.

Cuonzo barely makes the NCAAT via a play-in game and that's some kind of overachievement. Who knew?
 
I guess I just remember his last season differently. I thought Martin underachieved his final year with a good roster except for the tournament. I remember them being up and down all season, then making a good run in the tournament. Basketball is a tournament sport so I guess the season doesn’t count for much. I thought we were close to missing the dance until we went a mini run toward the end of the regular season. It seemed to me that the team started playing after the rumblings about his future started, but played very lackluster prior to that. I am getting old so maybe I misremember.
 
I think you're being charitable with your speculation. Cuonzo knew he had nothing returning or coming in for the 2017-18 season at Cal and he also knew that he might be able to lure Michael Porter Jr. to Missouri (where his brother played). He was trying to stay one year ahead of the ax... just like he did at Tennessee. He knew we would struggle in 2014-15 and he wanted no part of it. His tenures at Tennessee and California were carbon copies of each other.


I would bet he projected that it was going to be hard to continue to recruit with all the attention that the petition was getting from the national press. Hard to sell momma you are going to be around to take care of JR when every other school would maybe mention the petition. On top of that I would also guess some of the kids of the petition signers were giving his kids the business at school. So I don't blame him for seeking refuge elsewhere. Just can't understand card carrying fans shooting their current coach in the foot. Email the AD, call board members, etc.... I am good with it. Lots of smarter ways to achieve an objective. Just glad Barnes was willing to overlook that saga and the one that followed.... Glad Hickory is not far over the mountain and he had fonder memories of UT.
 
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I would bet he projected that it was going to be hard to continue to recruit with all the attention that the petition was getting from the national press. Hard to sell momma you are going to be around to take care of JR when every other school would maybe mention the petition. On top of that I would also guess some of the kids of the petition signers were giving his kids the business at school. So I don't blame him for seeking refuge elsewhere. Just can't understand card carrying fans shooting their current coach in the foot. Email the AD, call board members, etc.... I am good with it. Lots of smarter ways to achieve an objective. Just glad Barnes was willing to overlook that saga and the one that followed.... Glad Hickory is not far over the mountain and he had fonder memories of UT.
The petition is a cop out and it doesn't explain why he did basically the same thing at Cal.
 
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The petition is a cop out and it doesn't explain why he did basically the same thing at Cal.
The idea there is that he was born in St. Louis, was going back home. Believe what you want though.

I honestly believe it’s a combination of the bad “My team isn’t going to be good next year” with the innocent “I don’t like my current situation”.
 
I would bet he projected that it was going to be hard to continue to recruit with all the attention that the petition was getting from the national press. Hard to sell momma you are going to be around to take care of JR when every other school would maybe mention the petition. On top of that I would also guess some of the kids of the petition signers were giving his kids the business at school. So I don't blame him for seeking refuge elsewhere. Just can't understand card carrying fans shooting their current coach in the foot. Email the AD, call board members, etc.... I am good with it. Lots of smarter ways to achieve an objective. Just glad Barnes was willing to overlook that saga and the one that followed.... Glad Hickory is not far over the mountain and he had fonder memories of UT.

Well every single guy on campus/ signed never averaged double figures or barely played..... I feel it is safe to assume he would have been fired the following season.
 
He’s the Butch Jones of basketball. I’ll bump this thread when he’s fired or leaves mizzou in two years. Some serious Stockholm Syndrome going on in this thread.
 
Maybe Mizzou is a better fit for Cunzo. Vol athletics and the fan base is just too damn demanding.

I personally wouldn’t have it any other way tho...you gotta demand for the best!
 
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The part where he left because people were sending racist death threats to his wife maybe?


Pearl is white. Judaism is a religion or ethnicity. Race and ethnicity are two different things. There are Jews of every race. Pearl is a white Eastern European Jew. So not the same thing. Good try though. Race is phenotype and ethnicity is shared culture, history, and language.


So it played a part. Not all people that didn't like Zo had those reasons. Some obviously did. If that isn't you why are you so offended? Hit too close to home?

It was a factor.

Maybe not for you. Good then.
There is zero evidence that ever happened.

You’re just making **** up. Race baiter.
 
Witch Doctor said it before , dont hate Cunzo , but he likes the pity if you read most of his interviews. Witch Doctor say we got the best end of the deal , hands down

Bones Never Lie.
 
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Last nights slaughter of Mizzou on their home court should put to rest the few remaining Cuonzo supporters among Vol fans. As I've said for some time, CM is a fine man, an outstanding recruiter, but can't coach. He cannot make in-game adjustments. His teams almost always play worse the second half of games than the first half because opposing coaches make positive adjustments and Cuonzo does not. Losing by 24 at home is more evidence of this. Look at Mizzou and realize this is what Tennessee BB would be right now had Cuonzo been retained.

So should all the Pearl fans, if Pearl wasn't caught cheating do you think he would've stopped that time, no. Just be thankful that CM, held the wheel tight and pumped the brakes, we have something special at Tennessee that I haven't seen in my life time, just makes me say ( Bruce Who ).
GBO
 
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So should all the Pearl fans, if Pearl wasn't caught cheating do you think he would've stopped that time, no. Just be thankful that CM, held the wheel tight and pumped the brakes, we have something special at Tennessee that I haven't seen in my life time, just makes me say ( Bruce Who ).
GBO
Kind of like Dickey did for Kiffen?
 
I think it's pretty easy to see the trend with Martin... he brings talent with him when he moves, but then doesn't recruit well while he's there. He left a bare cupboard at Tennessee and California and then changed jobs just before his lack of recruiting had time to catch up with him. Martin was one year ahead of the ax in both places. Go to a Cal board and see their opinion of the state Martin left them in... I guarantee you will not find any positive opinions of him.

Bare cupboard?? You mean the future pro, Richardson(who Martin recruited AND helped develope), Robert Hubbs, Armani Moore, and Derrick Reese weren't pretty good pieces to come back to? Not a GREAT roster, but a few really good players. Then you had Darius Thompson, AJ Davis, and Quinten Chievious all transferring because Cuonzo left. Sorry, but your, as well as other's, opinion of the roster being bare from Cuonzo doesn't fit the rhetoric when you look at what all those guys did later in their careers.
 
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So should all the Pearl fans, if Pearl wasn't caught cheating do you think he would've stopped that time, no. Just be thankful that CM, held the wheel tight and pumped the brakes, we have something special at Tennessee that I haven't seen in my life time, just makes me say ( Bruce Who ).
GBO

Yep, and a former UT assistant said to multiple people that the culture of the basketball program was only getting worse when Pearl had his issues in 2010-11. Many believe the program would've fallen apart regardless of Aaron Craft's BBQ party at Bruce's.
 
Bare cupboard?? You mean the future pro, Richardson(who Martin recruited AND helped develope), Robert Hubbs, Armani Moore, and Derrick Reese weren't pretty good pieces to come back to? Not a GREAT roster, but a few really good pkayers. Then you had Darius Thompson, AJ Davis, and Quinten Chievious all transferring because Cuonzo left. Sorry, but your, as well as other's, opinion of the roster being bare from Cuonzo doesn't fit the rhetoric when you look at what all those guys did later in their careers.

Other than JRich, exactly what did the others do? Hubbs was a great recruit but battled injuries and didn’t live up to being a 5 star. Moore was undersized. Davis was decent at UCF but in a lesser conference. The others weren’t difference makers.

It didn’t appear that he was recruiting at a level to be able to sustain the success.
 
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Other than JRich, exactly what did the others do? Hubbs was a great recruit but battled injuries and didn’t live up to being a 5 star. Moore was undersized. Davis was decent at UCF but in a lesser conference. The others weren’t difference makers.

Exactly. Some people will argue anything but Martin basically just left Richardson behind.
 
Cuonzo flies to CA on UT's dime, supposedly to recruit for UT, and instead interviews for the Cal job and steers the recruit to Cal. Great, high character guy right there. But the donors are racists for limiting how he can use their planes.

Cuonzo promotes a divide between his players and UT fans. Great, high character guy.

Cuonzo barely makes the NCAAT via a play-in game and that's some kind of overachievement. Who knew?
This is so spot on. I'm amazed at how many fans support a coach that abandoned us like this one did. Great post.
 
Well, you know how we got some VN'ers who are simply in love with hating. Even when it's a UT player, a UT coach, or either that's a former Vol. They will dig up or invent a reason to pour venom on someone. Cuonzo is a pretty good coach. His teams aren't soft and they come to play. The team we have now has scared #1 Kansas, beat #2 Gonzaga, and stepped on a few competitive teams' toes. Cuonzo's Missouri team was out-talented by a veteran UT team. Further, the Tigers are loaded with freshmen so what should you expect with that level of experience difference between the two teams? Should we even be gloating under the circumstances? Still, you know how it is, haters gonna hate as that's all they know how to do.
 
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Well, you know how we got some VN'ers who are simply in love with hating. Even when it's a UT player, a UT coach, or either that's a former Vol. They will dig up or invent a reason to pour venom on someone. Cuonzo is a pretty good coach. His teams aren't soft and they come to pay. The team we have now has scared #1 Kansas, beat #2 Gonzaga, and stepped on a few competitive teams' toes. Cuonzo's Missouri team was out-talented by a veteran UT team. Further, the Tigers are loaded with freshmen so what should you expect with that level of experience difference between the two teams? Should we even be gloating under the circumstances? Still, you know how it is, haters gonna hate as that's all they know how to do.
Yeah, I don't get the point either. Main reason I felt bad about him was he gave us Donnie. JK No hard feelings here. Like where we are.
 

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