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We won 7 SEC games.  FIVE of those were on the road (LSU, USC, MSU, Mizzou, Vandy) and two at home (Auburn and Arkansas).

We lost to LSU, Miss State, and USC at home in spite of beating them on the road.  I find this very confusing.

Of our 7 wins, only Arkansas and LSU on the road stand out as quality wins.  The others are below us in the standings.

As a Vol fan, I am grateful that we beat Auburn.  Losing to Bruce in our home arena would be painful.

But while I was very enthused about our SEC prospects early in the season, looking back I now realize that with the exception of the win over Arkansas we really only beat bottom feeders early in the season, and then we lost to two of them at home later in the season.

Overall I am NOT impressed with this season.  I do find our offense refreshing compared to Cuonzo ball.  Also I realize the talent level is down, and finally my opinion is and always has been that any coach in any sport has a honeymoon his first year.

I hope the NCAA stuff with Donnie gets resolved before it impacts recruiting too much, that he gets his own talent in here and does great, but I am not really sure I see much improvement over the last three years.

Edit:  I forgot to mention that our OT win at Vandy was good.  Not in the same category as Arkansas and LSU but better than the other wins. 

Before this season started, no one expected Tennessee to make the NIT field, much less the NCAAT field. Things are right where I expected them to be at this point. OTOH, the way the team competed early before running out of gas proves that Tyndall is a great coach. He'll do good things at Tennessee if he's allowed to stick around.

^This

I was also thrilled with the start of the SEC season, but then at the time I thought Mizzou was a good team when we beat them on the road.  They are literally the worst team in the SEC.

Almost all our early wins, with the exception of Arkansas, were against very poor teams in other words.  As  I state above, the only impressive wins are Arkansas and LSU, and possibly Vandy.  Not impressed at all at this point.

And if a coach is going to be inconsistent, I would rather have one that finishes strong versus one that starts strong.  :nod:

Get out of here with this shizzle. I don't want Cuonzo Martin within two time zones of this program, and if you really miss the guy then it says something about how much you know about basketball.

You really can't see that this team did well to win 15 games?

Considering the situation CDT walked into, I believe this team overachieved. I'm pleased with this season in regards to where the ship is pointing.

No kidding. If Cuonzo were here this season, this team wouldn't have won 10 games.

(And I guess the Butler game doesn't count since it was non-conference? That looked impressive to me by any measure.)

Come on Bandit, you seriously did not just say that?  You couldn't be further from the truth. 

First of all, the pre-season media picked us to finish 13th out of 14 teams, so by their standards, UT was only supposed to win a handful of games.  To finish 10th with this roster is a major accomplishment.  Also, I saw our coach draw up plays in Time out situations or inbounds play situations that proves he is a damn good coach.  When did our previous coach do that? Often times, he couldn't draw up a play to save his life. 

Martin took a team that had talent and barely got us to one tournament.  Martin took a Cal team that had their top 3 scores back and he can't get them to the tournament either.

As I've said before, I still see Donnie as an interim coach.  I won't consider him truly "ours" until he's clear of the NCAA.

I saw enough this season to hope that we keep him.  The way he assembled the roster out of thin air in a matter of a couple weeks, and the way he kept them going through all the injuries before they just hit the wall and could go no farther.  I think he showed a lot, x's and o's wise, and if given the freedom to recruit his own roster without the shadow of the NCAA looming, I think he'll have us consistently in the postseason. 

But if the NCAA holds us at gunpoint again and slaps him with a show cause, I don't think we should go to the mat for him at the detriment of the program.  I mean, if Bruce F'ing Pearl wasn't worth fighting for, then Donnie sure as hell isn't either.  Sorry if that sounds harsh, but that's how I feel.

This times 10.  Cuonzo Martin is a damned joke of a basketball coach.  He'll be two and done at Cal if they give a rats ass about their basketball program. 

Tyndall is 20 times the X and O's coach that Cuonzo was, and if he can survive the NCAA's bullshizzle he'll end up being a better X and O's coach than Bruce Pearl was, as well.  If he can get to the point where he can recruit without the NCAA question's he'll be fine and UT will be more than a competitive basketball program again. 

I think the coach will be fine. What still baffles me is why does the SEC continuously suck at basketball. It is embarrassing. Now even UF is struggling. I think Donnie can get the Vols to challenge for a top 3 finish in the conference if he stays long enough.

 I was more or less indifferent to Cuonzo.  I definitely didn't hate the guy, but didn't think he was outstanding either.

I also admit freely that his offenses were painful to watch.

What I did and do think was that he got a raw deal from Vol fans.  Any one of his seasons was better than this.  Tyndall is absolutely getting treated differently than Martin, it's hypocritical and I absolutely am calling BS on that.

Tyndall hasn't done shizzle in the win-loss column.  Just hold him to the same standard as Cuonzo last year and I'm good.   :naughty:

Having said that, I do like what I have seen of Tyndall so far as to give him the benefit of the doubt. I also tend to be an optimist and truly believe that pessimistic attitudes can help create a losing environment.

But we lost by double digits in our final game on our home court to a team that only had 5 SEC wins coming in to the game.  They shot lights out in the first half and the announcers commented that their coach had spent a massive amount of time preparing them to beat our zone.

So no, I am not happy with how the season ended.

Maybe we can have a nice run in the SECT, sneak into the NIT and win a couple games.  I'd feel a lot better if we did.

In the span of about 3 weeks Tyndall pretty much put together a band of misfits and castoffs due to Martin's badmouthing UT to signees and recruits, and even lost probably the best of those when McKnight was declared ineligible, and ended up with a .500 team playing a solid schedule. 

Do you really believe that Double Live Cuonzo frickin' Martin could have been .500 with this team? 

Maybe Tyndall was treated differently because he acted like he wanted to be here and that he gave a damn, which is something that Martin never did. 

Cuonzo inherited a program that had been to six straight NCAA tournaments, had a decent roster of returning players, and had Jarnell Stokes in the bag already. Donnie inherited the dogshizzle that Cuonzo left in his wake and had to start almost from scratch.

Fans are idiots, generally, and they weren't nice to Cuonzo, but he followed a coach that had quickly become a legend at UT. Any coach would have been judged harshly, but it was really bad for Cuonzo because he was a TERRIBLE COACH.

A terrible coach that got us a whisper away from the Elite Eight in his third year.

And please don't understate the mess Pearl left. Our two best players quit (even before he was fired from what I heard) and I think a couple others left as well.

Yes, Donnie inherited dog shizzle.  I won't dispute that.  But even dog shizzle can do better than what I saw Saturday, particularly given that those same guys beat LSU on the road and Arkansas early in the season.   :nod:

Back on the terrible coach thing...if we apply LOGIC, and not EMOTION, then Cuonzo was an average to above average coach.  Maybe that's not good enough for a UT spoiled by Pearl, but that's what I see when I look at FACTS, and not what I FEEL.

Facts like...he never had a losing season and almost won a regional in the Dance.  That's not "terrible" so long as we use our cerebellums and not let hormones or brain chemistry take over our medulla oblangatas.   :naughty:

Hope that helps.

And CO, and everyone else, while I am at it, let me just go ahead and state openly that what just occurred at OU still exists everywhere.

That this was NOT a factor in the dislike of Cuonzo is HIGHLY UNLIKELY for a certain segment of our fan base.

My personal guesstimate (admittedly anecdotal) based on 33 years of living in the South is that it's roughly 15 to 20%.  FWIW.  :biggrin:

Well I know I'm never going to change your mind-- you are hopeless when it comes to this topic. Cuonzo Martin is a bad basketball coach, and let's also not forget that he is the one that chose to leave here and tear our roster to tatters in the process. I hold absolutely no respect for that man as a basketball coach.

The jury is out on Donnie but this year was a solid coaching job. Most guys would have struggled to even put 5 on the floor.

It's not a factor for me, and I've been disgusted by the assertion-- on your part just now and by national writers-- that race was a significant part of the dislike for Cuonzo. For some people, yes, and I hate those people as much as you do. Racism is no doubt alive and well and I see it with regularity. It's more subtle than it used to be but it's still everywhere.

But Cuonzo's fate here was about difficult circumstances and his own failures, and any impact his race made was on only a small fraction of the disgruntled.

Agree.
Zo had a compelling personal story.  I lived for three years near the corrupt shizzlehole he grew up in and escaped from.  Kudos to him for accomplishing that.  However, he flat SUCKED as a basketball coach IMO.

 :rotfl:

Cal fans beg to differ.

Yeah. There is no racism in California, you know.   :rolleyes:

UT offered Cuonzo a half million dollar per year raise and a contract extension.  He wasn't mistreated in any shape, form, or fashion.  We should all hope to be "mistreated" like that.   He chose to leave - period.  

Why can't a black man be a legitimate bad coach. I am sick and tired of everytime a black person fails or doesn't get the job it's because people are racists not because he is an actually bad coach. Some of his team's offensive production was painful to watch.

Was Wade Houston fired after three years because UT fans are racist?  :crazy:

^Homerun.

Actually a grand slam.

And we all know that a Double Live Cuonzo Martin coached team would have closed on a 20-2 run to come back and with that game, don't we?   :rolleyes:

Bandit, I mean no offense but the inference that we didn't like Martin because he was black is just plain horseshizzle.  What color was Jerry Green?  What color was Derek fizzleing Dooley?   

Bruce Pearl is a Jewish man, for goodness sakes, and even though his stupidity led to is demise as UT's coach some fans still think he hung the damned moon.

UT fans don't give a rats ass what color either a coach or an athlete may be.  Do I need to star listing all of the black athletes who are put on pedestals by UT fans?

I'm over the racist shizzle.  It has no merit what so ever. 

And Cuonzo's team lost by 22 in the PAC 12 tourney last night.  Shocking.  Simply shocking.   :rolleyes:

Cuonzo won 18 games this year with a roster returning a lot of scorers and three starters from a team that won 21 games last year. Donnie has won 16 and counting with a roster that returned four players and one scorer/starter, playing out of position the entire season for 36 minutes per game.

Oh, and Tennessee's schedule was tougher according to everyone who measures such things (RPI, Pomeroy, Massey were the three sources I referenced).

I mean . . . the math is not really that hard.

 :clap:

Deniers are gonna deny.   :biggrin:

I say 15 to 20% but that's a guesstimate based on personal experience.

But anyone who says there are NOT unreconstructed racists in our fanbase is either smoking crack or lying their ass off.

I've been in the South 33 years and my daddy's family goes back to 1819 in alerbammer.  I am neither blind nor stupid and I know what I have seen and heard.

Yeah and the whole idiotic petition to fire him never happened either, did it.  :rolleyes:

The partition was because he flat SUCKED (and still does) as a basketball coach.
You continued insinuations are not accurate nor appropriate.

I didn't say you personally, though there is a question I could ask you about something related.

But aside from that, I am not saying Cuonzo was run off JUST BECAUSE he was black. 

I am also not saying he was a great coach.  I would argue he was average and not terrible, but that's a relatively minor thing.

What I AM saying is two things.

1. There are DEFINITELY racists in our fanbase.
2. For SOME of Martin's critics, that was at least part of the problem.

Do you disupte either of those and if so why?

I go by facts.  He took us to the final of the Sweet 16 last year and almost to the quarterfinals, which is as far as UT has ever been.

Can you or anyone explain to me what about that "sucks"?  Cause I don't see it.

But again, I am using FACTS and LOGIC, and not emotion and feelings, so....

But I would love to hear what about that run sucked.  Standing by.... :naughty:

The team and talent we had last year (2 NBA draft picks and 1 other playing overseas)and Josh Smith should have NEVER been on the bubble. They should have been solidly in the NCAA's a month before the SEC Tourney. We got in a play-in game by the skin of our teeth and got some good draws once we got there.

I was a big supporter of CCM when we hired him....stood behind him longer than most UT fans did until I saw we would be a yearly NIT team and a bubble NCAA team in the good years.....didn't and/or wouldn't have signed the petition....which I thought was in bad taste to do to a coach or team. But in hindsight was probably the ONLY reason we made it to and past the bubble. It lit a fire in the team that CCM didn't have the ability to do. It became them against the petition.

CDT IMO, can coach circles around CCM and has the ability to have his team play balls out for 40 minutes which I rarely saw a CCM coached team do.

Because my basketball knowledge is average at best I'm tiptoeing into this thread, but is it safe to say that Cuonzo's teams underachieved as where Bruce's and Donnie's teams overachieved? To me it seems that way and if that is the case then logic dictates that Cuonzo is not on the same level as the coaches that he succeeded and preceded.  :dunno:

We won the last year DESPITE Zo.  In case you missed it, we were the LAST team in, due to the poor season performance.
Did you even fizzleing watch his lack of coaching?????
He also couldn't recruit his way out of his on shadow.  Look at the bigs he brought in (don't forget Stokes was already committed). 
This team won more games than the team Zo was going to put on the court.  How many times did his teams quit?

Okay so how exactly is this season an improvement?  We struggled to make 0.500 and we got drilled on our home court in the regular season finale by the fourth worst team in the SEC, a team we had previously beaten FIFTEEN TIMES IN A ROW.  And for the record, Richardson is projected to go in the 2nd round of the NBA, so although we are thin on talent it's not bare either.

Again, I never said Zo was a great coach.  I do seem to see Donnie being held to a different standard.

I want Donnie to do well and I am giving him exactly the same chance I gave Martin.  But from where I sit, Martin's lack of performance was grossly overstated and I think people are too quick to give Tyndall credit.

Richardson was a huge part of our team this year and he is gone.  Recruiting seems to be going well enough, but with only 9-10 schollie players and our best player leaving, how well does Tyndall have to recruit to have us competitive and in the Dance by 2017 (not sure he can make it next year and am okay if he doesn't, but we better be there by 2017).

And how wll can he recruit with the NCAA hanging over his head, which is a situation entirely of his own making?

This is an improvement how? 

Having said that, I hope he shakes off the NCAA thing, recruits lights out, and has us in the tourney a year earlier than I expect because I defintely want what's best for the program.

But we will see...I think it's entirely possible he might not even match Martin's worst record and I will be very surprised if we even make the Sweet 16 on his watch.

But I will be very glad if we do.  :patriot:

Just noticed this part as I was rereading some stuff.  I don't know how many times Martin's teams quit.  I would say some, but I am certanly not going to go through all ~ 100 of his games and try and find out.  Even if I did, it would be a subjective call anyway.

Let me just turn that around on you.  How many times did this year's team quit?  I would say at least a few. 

Donnie Tyndall is not being held to a different standard than Cuonzo Martin. You're judging the year three reaction to Martin by the year one reaction to Tyndall, which is a pretty silly way to approach it.

After his first year, which ended with an NIT bid, most UT fans would've defended Martin just the way they're defending Tyndall now. I, for one, thought that Martin did a pretty decent job in year one. The end-of-season run was impressive and gave me hope that years two and three would be better.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Take away the NCAAT run last year and your entire argument wouldn't have a leg to stand on. As Pirate already pointed out, we were the last team in and that team, with that talent, should've secured an NCAAT bid by the first of February. We all agreed going into the season that anything less than a Sweet 16 finish would be unacceptable. The only reason we got to the Sweet 16 was a very favorable draw. But let's ignore that and pretend that Martin's coaching against superior teams was the reason we got to the Sweet 16...two weekends of coaching does not override three years of coaching.

If, by the end of year three, Tyndall is looking like an NIT team every year under his watch, I guarantee you that you won't find many people defending him just as you didn't see many people defending Martin last spring. The petition might've been juvenile and silly, but Martin's coaching performance in Berkeley this season is proof enough that Martin didn't know what he was doing and would've never taken this program to the next level. If the petition is truly what drove him away (good luck proving that), the fans who signed it might just have done us a favor. Especially if Tyndall is as good a coach as he appeared to be this season.

Keep blowing about how this year's team didn't prove anything, but if you think Martin would've won 10 games with this squad, you're kidding yourself.

Our performance across the board last year was not as bad as people made it out to be and the petiition was a bad joke.

Having said that, Pearl getting hired at Auburn has no doubt improved the climate for Tyndall and that's a good thing.

As for racism being at least a part of it, I noticed above that some refer to "national media".  No need to look so far afield, some of our own players tweeted their opinion that it was.

But how the heck would they know better than we fans?  They were only on the team, after all.   :dance:

Damnit Bandit, the petition never called for the firing of Cuonzo Martin.  Get your head out of the national media's ass and read the damned thing.

But even if it had, your assertion that is was racial is just plain bullshizzle and is countered by the fact that the guy the petition backed was a JEWISH man.  You seem to be glossing right over that fact.  If it is racial, then why would the petition signers be supporting a JEWISH man?  That just doesn't line up with your argument.

And as I have said a blue million times, I didn't sign the petition, and there are no checks and balances on how many people actually signed it.  It was an open petition. One didn't have to register with an email addy or in any way confirm who they were, or even that they were a real person.  It could have been 10K people signing it 3 times, or it could have been 3K people signing it 10 times each.  It was a meaningless non-checked Internet thing. 

Keep pointing that racial finger if you want, but remember that there are 3 fingers pointing back at you when you do.  Seems odd that you keep trying to bring that up. 

Bottom line:  Martin was so "mistreated" that he was offered a half million dollar per year raise and his contract was going to be extended to 5 years.  We should all be mistreated.  He made the decision to leave all on his own.  The powers that be did not force him out.
 

So calling for the hiring of another coach is not implying that the current coach should be fired?  Do you ever read your posts and say "what does this look like and should I edit it first?".  Just curious.

I never said the petition was racist.  I said that SOME of the folks signing it very likely were or are.  My my point is that there are DEFINITELY racists in our fanbase (I personally know some of them!) and that this was ONE FACTOR in the dislike of Martin. I never painted the University or majority of the fanbase as racist.

Hope that helps.

Okay.We didn't like Martin because he's black. What's your point? The fact that we are not impressed with his coaching skills has no bearing on you. He was not let go or fired. He left on his own accord. That means we are racists. He was offered a good deal but declined it. Let it go.

So those fans you know are racist, do they not like UT football because probably 95% of the athletes that have made UT a national player are black?? Or is it coaching figures they don't like being black? I am curious about this.

Bandit - you should stop living in a glass house. When people answer your questions, you refuse to acknowledge that and go on a different rant so people wonder if you even read before you post again. Time and time again people have pointed out that last's years team should not have been the last team in the field with the talent we had. The only thing you have said is that last year wasn't as bad as it seemed! Really? Based on what? Your thoughts? If last year wasn't as bad as it seemed, why was ut the last team in the field with that amount of talent and the league as down as it was?  If last year wasn't as bad as it seemed, why did the committee make us play in a play in game? You refuse to acknowledge any of that.

Geez - you amaze me. I believe this team quit only twice all season. How many times did this team come back from double digits down in second half to win? I can't remember them coming back like that several times with the previous coaching staff. Tell me the plays  the previous staff draw up out of time outs? I saw that a lot this year.

Nothing I said needed editing. It was factually accurate, whether you choose to believe it or not.

Do you ever read a reply to one of your posts and actually try to answer it with reason and rational thought?  I gave you specific examples of why you are full of shizzle when you point the racist finger at those of us who weren't particularly happy with Cuonzo Martin as a basketball coach.  You just seemed to gloss over them because the answers don't fit your agenda.

And if you ever read anything I posted on Pearl you would know that I was never for bringing him back under any circumstances.  He screwed the pooch with his own actions, and not he, but Tennessee basketball and UT fans bore the brunt of his actions.  My opinion is that those who wanted him back were misguided at best and were trying to make a deal with the devil by wanting him back.  

And you can take your racist accusations and shove them up your ass.  For you to believe that you are so high and mighty that you are above seeing Martin's color, but that any of us who weren't supportive of his continuing to be UT's coach must be racist is arrogant and presumptive.  You don't know me, and you don't know others well enough to make that judgment.  

The problem I have with the race issue in this context is concluding that 15-20 percent of UT fans are racists using only personal experience with a very small sampling of UT fans.  This conclusion is not logical, and is only based on a gut feeling.  For example, we've been tailgating for football games for well over 20 years and I've never heard any UT fans make racists statements.  That covers thousands of different people throughout the years.  Now, can I then logically conclude that no UT fans are racists - no.  One can not observe the attributes of a non-statistical sample of UT fans and project those results to the entire universe of UT fans. I also believe that each generation is getting less and less racist (even if there are those of all shades that wish that was not the case).  

And saying that one lives in the South as a way of supporting one's case is a bit outdated. I've live in the south for 48 years and have rarely seen racists acts or heard racist comments.  Have I seen and/or heard such things, yes, but rarely.  I've seen and heard many worse things in the North than I've seen and heard in the South (and that's all during my lifetime, not recently).  Just my $.02.

I am tired of hearing about race. All UT fans Iknow care about winning. Not color.

^ This......I could care less if we had a illegal Mexican coaching us. If he wins, I'm backing him 100%.

Very well thought out post TBV, and also quite logical.  It's fair to critizise my assessment as anectdotal.  So disagree with the "15 to 20%" if you must, but in all the responses above, I fail to see one instance of anyone saying that we have NO racists.

As I read message boards like Volnation, where there is a large volume of traffic, it's pretty easy to read between the lines and identfiy racists.

Where anywher in all of this did I personally accuse you or anyone on this particular site of racism?  If you can find such a statement, please let me know. 


One does wonder why you would think that though.  :angel:

Again, never accused anyone on here of that. 

Actually only Pirate pointed it out.  It's a good point, and one I was going to agree with when I got around to it.

It's very fair to say that we should not have been the last team in.  Neverhtheless, most everyone had given up on the team at midseason.  But then they did make it in and had a great run.  Which goes to show...don't ever give up on a team until it's actually over.

I defintely have a gripe that fans today are too impatient and this was my position last year with Martin and it has not changed.

But  you mention the committee...my opinion is that the SEC has been underrepresented in the NCAA for years and that last year was just a part of it.

My opinion is  that we should not have been relegated to a play-in and also that we should have snuck in the previous year.  Unfortunately my opinion doesn't count much with the committe.

Another thing I find objectionable is that during the season, people were griping that "it's all about wins" and that Martin was not providing them. Those of us who WERE patient were then rewarded with a nice late season run in which (drum roll)...we won.

But the same people who said "all I care about is winning" just dismissed it as a fluke. Hypocritical and inconsistent, but what I increasingly expect from fans that seem to lack the intestinal fortitude or mental toughness to ride out some tough patches.   :dude:

If UT hadn't been in the play-in game last year the run to the Sweet 16 would have never happened. It was the most favorable draw in the entire field.

If Tennessee should've been in the tourney in 2013, Martin's team could have helped make its case by NOT losing in the first round of the NIT to Mercer at home.



You know, Bandit, if you don't like the UT fan base, there's a red team just down the road that you might find more to your liking.  :laugh:

Exactly what I am speaking of.  If "all that matters is wins", then how and why UT got in the tourney is inconsequential.  And for the record, we did beat the no. 6 seed in the first round, which is hardly luck IYAM.


My comment was actually more about sports fans in general.  These days everyone wants instant success and do not have patience for what it sometimes takes to build a program.  Such impatience has IMO contributed to the lack of success at places like Michigan, Tennesee and Nebraska.  I think that on the contrary FSU did show patience and it paid off.

Let me also say that  while I was including Vol fans in the comment, it was actually only the most impatient portion of our fanbase, not all of them.

Not a fan of Martin as a coach and really never was. DT is far and above better, from what we've seen thus far.

That said, there is no way your statement above holds water. No way to prove or disprove what might have happened if ........

I think if you'll go back and look at every thread on every UT message board, including this one, you'll find most Vols fans were excited about the draw. Many fans (myself included) speculated before the tournament even began that UT could very well win a couple of games with that bracket, and that was a UT team that had not played particularly down the stretch (won their last four games but lost four of six before that).

UMass was ridiculously over-seeded as a 6-seed (they were 8-7 after the month of January, heading into the tourney, and their wins had been squeakers against teams like Duquesne and Rhode Island). And Mercer did UT a huge favor by beating Duke. The other three 6-seeds (Ohio State, UNC and Baylor) were all better than UMass. And does that UT team beat Creighton, Iowa State or Syracuse? I doubt it. Just about every UT fan agreed before that tournament started that it was a very favorable draw for UT. It isn't revisionist history to look back now and say that it was just that.

I am not disputing that UT may have had a favorable draw.

I simply propose that, when players 'lace em up', anything can happen. Otherwise they'd simply seed the tourney, eliminate all the higher seeds down to the #1 seeds, and play only the final four.

You've go to be kidding me, Bandit.  Here are your words from earlier in this thread:

And CO, and everyone else, while I am at it, let me just go ahead and state openly that what just occurred at OU still exists everywhere.

That this was NOT a factor in the dislike of Cuonzo is HIGHLY UNLIKELY for a certain segment of our fan base.

My personal guesstimate (admittedly anecdotal) based on 33 years of living in the South is that it's roughly 15 to 20%.  FWIW. 

While you didn't name any particular person, you inferred that 15% to 20% of UT fans had a racial bias against Martin. 

So, out of the 20 or so "regular" UT fans on this forum, which 3-4 do you believe disliked Martin because of his skin color? 

Be specific.  If you are going to throw out those accusations at least have the balls to back up them up with specifics. 

We are all Vols fans and I personally believe that most of us would back Cuonzo if his performance warranted it. He about coached that team into missing the tournament. Weren't they the last one in? That team had the talent to be a lot higher ranked than that. But we have who we have now. Let's just back him. When he gets the talent he wants, I think he will coach the hell out of it. Give Tyndall a chance. Cuonzo is gone. We will be better off. I hope..lol.

So are you self-identifying yourself as being in the 15 to 20%?

Hahaha, no need to answer.  Relax, I am just joking.   :naughty:

No, I am identifying you as one who throws out shizzle, but won't back it up with rational and reasonable thoughts, much less some facts to go with it. 

[yawn]

The reaction of somebody who can't back what he says.

Oh fizzle you.

I'm just tired of this.

I can totally back what I say.

Read above. Several times I state that there definitely are SOME racists in our fanbase.

I also admitted that the 15-20 % percentages I quote are anecdotal and totally pulled out of my arse.


So let me ask, are there any racists AT ALL in our fanbase?  Limit yourself to yes or no please.  Otherwise don't bother answering.  :naughty:

Except when you don't

You got called and this is how you react ...
I would kindly suggest that you look in the mirror ....

Well you can answer the question.  I know there are racists in our fanbase because I personally know at least two.

What about you Pirate?  Are you prepared to say that there are NONE?

Are any of you?

If that's not backing up what I say, then what is?

Explain please.

But Bandit, surely you can see why your post got a reaction. You know a couple of racist Tennessee fans so you declared that racism was a driving factor in this fan base's dissatisfaction with Cuonzo. It was an inflammatory accusation that was bound to draw an inflammatory response.

I am NOT the one who declared our fans RACIST!  You did - Defend you own ASS!
I'm just calling you what you appear to be.

I'm laughing at you now, Bandit.

You opened the racism door by accusing a number, that when called on it you admit that you pulled out of your ass, of being much of the problem for Cuonzo leaving. 

When reminded that the man that the petition "backed" was a Jewish man you conveniently began evading and avoiding identifying those so called racist. 

So, fizzle you back, Bandit.  You are a hypocrite.  You want an answer to your question, but you are running from questions asked of you.

The first time I posted 15-20% I said up front it was "anecdotal".  For those of you who didn't know, that's a fancy way of saying "out of my arse".  HTK, pick up a dictionary occasionally.  I didn't "back off" of anything.  I stated up front that those numbers had no credibility.

And Creek, I never said it was a "driving" factor, just one among many.

Having said that, no one had the balls to answer my question, so I will answer it myself.

"Yes, there are racists in the UT fanbase".  Hopefully the minority of that is much smaller than what I speculate above.

I do note that no one has gone on record and said there are NOT any.

Finally, let me note that a good deal of discussion above involves a comparison of Tyndall to Martin.  A point long since irrelevant (hint, hint...some of you need to let go already  :dielaughing:).

I would hope nobody on here would disagree with you about this. There are most definitely racists in the UT fanbase. There are in every fanbase, and it's hard to judge if UT has relatively more than others.

I know a number of UT fans that I'd call racist, some more subtle about it than others. I know 15-20% might be out of your ass but I'm not sure it's too far off. The question is whether that's a high number relative to other sports fanbases, and that's tough to say.