Reading the Tenn message boards last night....

[The Sultan of Silly]

Lots of posters described CM as a passive recruiter and average/passive coach....they also point out that Mercer did their dirty work taking out Duke.

The recruiting part disturbs me the most as all he signed at Tenn was 3 star prospects outside the top 100. I've also heard the arguments that he was hampered by NCAA infractions from Pearle his first year but if he comes to MU that kind of recruiting results just won't get it done.  I've been as frustrated as anyone with the watered down Big East but the fact of the matter is the New Big East is 2nd only to the ACC which has four more schools in signing top 100 kids for the 2014-15 season.  The new Big East was in a rebuilding mode this year with Marquette supposed to be the one national power as Gtown licked their wounds from key injuries and had 3 top 100 players coming next year. Of course we all know how that worked out as Buzz became a flake and laid a turd the whole season.

I'd be willing to give CM the benefit of the doubt and see of he could be a star at MU....but I'd ask him a lot of tough questions in the interview about his recruiting thoughts and why so many Tenn fans were disillusioned with him until his tournament run.

I think it's obvious that Doc is pushing for MU to hire their first African American coach knowing that in Wisconsin you have to be the complete opposite to big white guy U in Madison as they have a monopoly on the home grown white guys and MU can't have a coach that will try to compete with them on style of play and that type of recruit. Hence why Bruce Weber and Brian Wardle are non-starters and shouldn't be mentioned as viable candidates for any high major job as Weber is a Turkey and Wardle hasn't even been to a NCAA tournament yet.

Howland, Bennett, Martin and potentially others I could live with. Wardle and Weber I could not.

[GoVols]

I'm a Vol fan, and honestly, probably half of us see this as the best case scenario. Martin leaves and we don't have to pay his buyout clause.

The program was in very good shape when he took over actually. The Pearl stuff only effected Pearl in the end and UT itself was found guilty of nothing. Martin was left with a core of top 100 players and all the ground work laid for Stokes to commit. He did however lose the top 2 Pearl commits, both were top 75 players that ended up at Louisville in Chris Jones and Kevin Ware. After that he had a bad class his first year, but that was understandable and by year 3 Josh Richardson is serviceable. His second class raised a lot of red flags though. He recruited players that didn't start for their high school teams and players that averaged under 10 points a game in high school. He took a commitment from a PG named Tavon Landry and kept it for months when Tavon was averaging under 5 points and not starting. Then, very late in the process he rescinded Landry's scholarship offer and ticked off his high school coach to the point that Tennessee is now persona non grata at the school.

Right now Pearl recruits represented 40% of our offense this season and there were times when the bench didn't score a single point in games. If Jarnell Stokes goes pro, and he'd be crazy not to after the tourney we just had, we're in such bad shape that we might not make the NIT next year if the SEC improves any at all. Not inspiring for your coach heading into his 4th year.

There's also a litany of baffling in-game coaching moves that have astounded over the past three season. Plus the always baffling slow starts. We started 3 seniors and two juniors this year. Stokes and McRae were 1st team all SEC and Richardson was 1st team All-SEC Defense. Plus Maymon averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds a game.

This was supposed to be the year we went 25-6 and got a top 4 seed. Instead we were literally one more loss away from being in the NIT for the third year in a row. We had 4-5 losses to sub 100 rpi teams. Vanderbilt beat us with 7 scholarship players on the entire team. We lost at home to an awful Texas A&M team and then the same guy beat us with the same exact play a month later in College Station.

Even the most diehard Martin fans were ready to dump him after that game.

As for what Martin is given to work with, we have a monster recruiting budget. We have all new and amazing facilities that were built under Pearl. We are top 5 in attendance in the NCAA every year. We have been to 7 of the last 9 NCAA tournaments and made 4 sweet sixteens in the last 8 seasons, only 5 teams in NCAA basketball have made it more. Tennessee also produces a huge amount of basketball talent in-state, as does the Atlanta area, a few hours from Knoxville and an area where Tennessee has done really well recruiting historically.

All that said, if you hire Martin, good luck. I hope you don't experience the same results we did with him, at least before the last 9 games of this season.

[Niv Berkowitz]

Boy, I don't know about you....but I'm really excited the potential C Martin era!!!!!

[GooooMarquette]

Thanks, GoVols.

Confirms what many here are concerned about.

[chapman]

Let's just proclaim all Vols fans wrong.  I'm sure VT fans proclaim all MU fans wrong about everything we say, but we can have it both ways.  The truth comes out at times like these - and they're ready to cast off their coach for good reason.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Never take advice about a coach from a fan. They are reactionary, impulsive, and know very little about coaching division 1 basktetball.

Not commenting on you specifically GoVols, thank you for sharing your information. But I would trust folks from the Tennessee administration over fans when it comes to info about Mr. Martin.

[Blackhat]

Never take advice about a coach from a fan. They are reactionary, impulsive, and know very little about coaching division 1 basktetball.

Not commenting on you specifically GoVols, thank you for sharing your information. But I would trust folks from the Tennessee administration over fans when it comes to info about Mr. Martin.

Pretty broad philosophy.   Whose opinion should we take?...guys who don't watch every game like Charles Barkley, Seth Davis?

[WadeATKBurton]

Never take advice about a coach from a fan. They are reactionary, impulsive, and know very little about coaching division 1 basktetball.

Not commenting on you specifically GoVols, thank you for sharing your information. But I would trust folks from the Tennessee administration over fans when it comes to info about Mr. Martin.

BINGO..End of thread!

[GoVols]

Never take advice about a coach from a fan. They are reactionary, impulsive, and know very little about coaching division 1 basktetball.

Not commenting on you specifically GoVols, thank you for sharing your information. But I would trust folks from the Tennessee administration over fans when it comes to info about Mr. Martin.

The admin had the word out, make the tourney this year or you're fired. The big money pulled support from Martin after his second A&M loss when we appeared dead in the water and refused to give it back even after the run. Marquette hiring Martin would solve a lot of problems for Dave Hart.

[oldwarrior81]

interesting that this "monster" recruiting budget of Tennessee's required the basketball coaches to fly commerical on recruiting trips.  With the private jets reserved for the football recruiting.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

The admin had the word out, make the tourney this year or you're fired. The big money pulled support from Martin after his second A&M loss when we appeared dead in the water and refused to give it back even after the run. Marquette hiring Martin would solve a lot of problems for Dave Hart.

I was at one of those A&M losses.

GIG EM AGGIES! 

[Tums Festival]

I'm a Vol fan, and honestly, probably half of us see this as the best case scenario. Martin leaves and we don't have to pay his buyout clause.

The program was in very good shape when he took over actually. The Pearl stuff only effected Pearl in the end and UT itself was found guilty of nothing. Martin was left with a core of top 100 players and all the ground work laid for Stokes to commit. He did however lose the top 2 Pearl commits, both were top 75 players that ended up at Louisville in Chris Jones and Kevin Ware. After that he had a bad class his first year, but that was understandable and by year 3 Josh Richardson is serviceable. His second class raised a lot of red flags though. He recruited players that didn't start for their high school teams and players that averaged under 10 points a game in high school. He took a commitment from a PG named Tavon Landry and kept it for months when Tavon was averaging under 5 points and not starting. Then, very late in the process he rescinded Landry's scholarship offer and ticked off his high school coach to the point that Tennessee is now persona non grata at the school.

Right now Pearl recruits represented 40% of our offense this season and there were times when the bench didn't score a single point in games. If Jarnell Stokes goes pro, and he'd be crazy not to after the tourney we just had, we're in such bad shape that we might not make the NIT next year if the SEC improves any at all. Not inspiring for your coach heading into his 4th year.

There's also a litany of baffling in-game coaching moves that have astounded over the past three season. Plus the always baffling slow starts. We started 3 seniors and two juniors this year. Stokes and McRae were 1st team all SEC and Richardson was 1st team All-SEC Defense. Plus Maymon averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds a game.

This was supposed to be the year we went 25-6 and got a top 4 seed. Instead we were literally one more loss away from being in the NIT for the third year in a row. We had 4-5 losses to sub 100 rpi teams. Vanderbilt beat us with 7 scholarship players on the entire team. We lost at home to an awful Texas A&M team and then the same guy beat us with the same exact play a month later in College Station.

Even the most diehard Martin fans were ready to dump him after that game.

As for what Martin is given to work with, we have a monster recruiting budget. We have all new and amazing facilities that were built under Pearl. We are top 5 in attendance in the NCAA every year. We have been to 7 of the last 9 NCAA tournaments and made 4 sweet sixteens in the last 8 seasons, only 5 teams in NCAA basketball have made it more. Tennessee also produces a huge amount of basketball talent in-state, as does the Atlanta area, a few hours from Knoxville and an area where Tennessee has done really well recruiting historically.

All that said, if you hire Martin, good luck. I hope you don't experience the same results we did with him, at least before the last 9 games of this season.

Thank for this post GoVols. It is not reactionary, but rather factual and confirms the fears about him as a candidate. However, there are people on this board that will dismiss it, even though they have ZERO evidence to refute the facts.

[GoVols]

interesting that this "monster" recruiting budget of Tennessee's required the basketball coaches to fly commerical on recruiting trips.  With the private jets reserved for the football recruiting.

The private jets are owned by boosters, they give coaches access to them to make flights. Those boosters lost faith in Martin after his baffling losses continued this year and they pulled their planes. Good or ill, when the big money loses faith in the product you're putting out, it's their right to pull the use of their planes.

Last I saw, Tennessee was #1 in the SEC in total recruiting budget, 2nd in basketball. I believe it was 2.6 million total out of the 120 million dollar athletic budget we have.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

The private jets are owned by boosters, they give coaches access to them to make flights. Those boosters lost faith in Martin after his baffling losses continued this year and they pulled their planes. Good or ill, when the big money loses faith in the product you're putting out, it's their right to pull the use of their planes.

Last I saw, Tennessee was #1 in the SEC in total recruiting budget, 2nd in basketball. I believe it was 2.6 million total out of the 120 million dollar athletic budget we have.

Just to give you reference, Martin will have access to about 4x that at Marquette. We spend a lot on our program

[GoVols]

Just to give you reference, Martin will have access to about 4x that at Marquette. We spend a lot on our program

If you guys spend that much just on recruiting, that's amazing.

According to this http://businessofcollegesports.com/2012/01/23/conference-recruiting-expense-series-top-50-spenders/

Tennessee is #1 and Marquette is #11.

[chapman]

The private jets are owned by boosters, they give coaches access to them to make flights. Those boosters lost faith in Martin after his baffling losses continued this year and they pulled their planes. Good or ill, when the big money loses faith in the product you're putting out, it's their right to pull the use of their planes.

Last I saw, Tennessee was #1 in the SEC in total recruiting budget, 2nd in basketball. I believe it was 2.6 million total out of the 120 million dollar athletic budget we have.

So they have sense and care about their ROI?  We just spend much, expect little.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

If you guys spend that much just on recruiting, that's amazing.

According to this http://businessofcollegesports.com/2012/01/23/conference-recruiting-expense-series-top-50-spenders/

Tennessee is #1 and Marquette is #11.

That is for all sports (mens & woman's)....we don't have football and we are 11 despite that...think that makes our point pretty well.  

From the article -- The total expense is for all sports. Then there is a breakdown for men's and women's sports. Unfortunately, the schools do not have to break down how much they spend on a particular sport when they submit the data to the Department of Education.

[GoVols]

That is for all sports (mens & woman's)....we don't have football and we are 11 despite that...think that makes our point pretty well.  

From the article -- The total expense is for all sports. Then there is a breakdown for men's and women's sports. Unfortunately, the schools do not have to break down how much they spend on a particular sport when they submit the data to the Department of Education.

I'm sure you guys spend more total on basketball, but we spend around 400k on it. Martin had access to plenty of recruiting money. But he has some strange diamond in the rough approach to recruiting. At one point he was offering multiple players who's main other offer was from Jacksonville. It became a running joke in Tennessee forums.

[Pakuni]

So, basically a coach who makes baffling in-game decisions, has a team that consistently gets off to slow starts, cut a recruit and recruited a kid who didn't start for his high school team and largely failed to meet expectations this year.

Why does this sound so familiar?

[Pakuni]

I'm wondering what they were saying about Howland over at the UCLA boards about this time last year.
Probably that he's a great basketball mind and any team would be lucky to have him.
Probably.

[The Sultan of Silly]

Thanks Vol fan....if I was Cords I would pass on KM. This is just too important of a hire to take a coach with this many potential worts and the Tenn message boards have been pretty unanimous in their appraisal of him.

[slingkong]

So, basically a coach who makes baffling in-game decisions, has a team that consistently gets off to slow starts, cut a recruit and recruited a kid who didn't start for his high school team and largely failed to meet expectations this year.

Why does this sound so familiar?

Agreed. I started to wonder if this was just someone echoing a bunch of complaints he'd read about Brant from here.