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.

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.   

How many times did his teams quit?

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. 

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. 

There are ups and downs in recruiting....

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

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....

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?   

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?

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

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.  

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

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.

Deniers are gonna deny.   

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.

I attended classes at two different college campuses, and worked at another.  In my experience, every frat/sorority has its own stereotype, and that stereotype generally holds true no matter which campus you're on. 

As an example, UT took a serious PR beating over the whole "butt-chugging" incident.  But as far as I'm concerned, that wasn't a UT thing, that was a Pike thing.  Walk into any Pike house on any campus in America on a Saturday night, and you're likely to see idiotic shizzle like that going down.  UT's chapter was just stupid enough to get caught.

(And if there are any current/former Pikes on the board who would like to argue the point, I'd be happy to hear it.)

When I was at UT, the Pikes had a rep as the biggest #badword#s, basically.  They would do stupid shizzle like start food fights in the cafeteria that seemed more appropriate to junior high.


So...yeah.   

I'm waiting on the ibrain implant. Finally my electronic devices will operate truly hands free and have the speed I desire. 

Like what....a 286 with 1 Meg of RAM?    

But this watch?  Sorry, but it's a joke- especially at these prices.  I'm sure the fanboys will snatch it right up and make it a success, but I won't be getting one. 

It's called "Apple sucks without Jobs at the helm".

This is apparently their "next big thing" and to this observer, it obviously lacks his deft marketing touch and feel for what consumers really want.

IMO 

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. 

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.   

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.   

Hope that helps.

Outstanding article. There need to be more of those.  A lot more. 

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.

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?

 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.   

That's only because Tim Duncan (and David Robinson before him) was grandfathered in before Stern began his "big markets only" policy.

It's likely no coincidence that the little teams are doing better with Schtern out of the way.

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.

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. 

[FIVE]

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. 

Wow- they're so pissed at UK that they nailed Syracuse.

Well Crapulari just took a shot at the NCAA, FWIW

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/post/_/id/10763702/is-john-calipari-right-ncaa

I could see where he felt hounded by the "KGB", I really can.  But where there is smoke....

Maybe this will piss them off and he will pay for it?     Unlikely, but hey I can dream. 

Because they apparently bet heavily against their own team last time we played them.

Based on the fiasco that was the second half of our season, I can offer no other explanation for how we beat them.   

BDV, do you still watch The Americans?  I do.  It's still pretty good, although not nearly as good as season 1.

I find the contest for Paige very interesting.  I am pretty sure things are going to go really badly between the wife and husband before it's over...but my guess is that the wife will come around at the last minute.  We will see I guess.

Also have you watched "Gangland Undercover"?  Two shows in, it's pretty good so far IMO.

Also Fargo will be starting up again soon.  It's clear to me that the second season will focus on the father and whatever happened in the early 80s. At least there were plenty of hints.  Should be good again.

Actually this confirms it, but puts the timeline in 1979.  They certainly did telegraph it.

http://www.ibtimes.com/fargo-season-2-spoilers-kirsten-dunst-jesse-plemons-added-cast-character-scoop-more-1749647

I like Kirsten Dunst, so looking forward to it.

Some coaches (or multiple coaches) can have ongoing rampant academic fraud for years on end and not get the punishment that some get for having a cook-out.  These schools also covered up the fraud, so please don’t say that lying about an infraction gets you into additional trouble.  The ridiculousness of the ncaa is stunning.   

I hope the ncaa adds to the 9 game suspension for Boeheim if he does appeal the decision - the pos should have been fired. 

Yep, the NCAA is very inconsistent.  The big problem they have IMO is that they can't subpoena anyone.  NCAA rules are not laws, so to some extent compliance depends on how cooperative the institution is.  In the case of Bruce, our institution was way too compliant, IMO.   

Having said that, in cases where the school is seen as attempting to stonewall or aid and abet the cheating at an institutional level, the NCAA usually comes down hard. I think Bruce was part of that logic, although "logic" is hardly an appropriate term.   

In other words, right or wrong, the NCAA will almost always nail someone for being dishonest precisely because they have to have some level of cooperation from the school to build a case.

For a minute I thought you meant the old Bball player "Wharton".  Ha, he's been gone a while.

Why Cali?  I have no idea, unless that's where he is from.  I can understand him transferring, though...he only had five catches last year.