by MoValley John » March 28th, 2011, 9:23 pm
I think Cuonzo is a better coach than Hinson. I also think Hinson was a good coach that was treated horribly by the fans. In fact, Bears fans should be embarrassed the way they treated him and continue to treat him. As for all of these comparisons, Barry won more games in his last three years at Missouri State than Cuonzo did in his three. That is a meaningless stat. So is most everything else brought up, but Barry was a good coach and deserves more credit than Bears fans give him. As for the other stuff, I don't know if Barry Hinson is looking for a job. The last time I heard, he had said that he wanted to coach again, but wasn't ready and didn't know at what level he would want to coach. He said he is very happy at Kansas. My guess is that he is very, very comfortable in his position and he does in fact make more as the Director of Basketball Operations than he did as head coach at Missouri State. My guess is that any school that would hire him would pay far less than he is currently making, job security combined with having to sacrifice pay would keep a lot of guys from jumping back into the fray.
Onto other rants being brought up in this thread. It is a fact that Missouri State does not have locker rooms in the arena. Players dress at HSC which is connected by a tunnel or something to the arena. There is currently a fundraiser to rectify the situation and build lockers. Why there weren't lockers in the first place blows my mind, but if I were to throw barbs, I would blast this as just another area where Missouri State went on the cheap. Build a nice arena and try to save a few measly hundred grrr by omitting needed lockers. Also, Cuonzo Martin did in fact ask for a training table in which he never received. As for the contract being rejected on March 7th, I have seen that rumor on several forums, but I don't know it to be a fact. I speculate that there was a contract negotiation but I don't know how it went or the status before taking the Tennessee job. That said, if what I have seen rumored is even remotely true, Cuonzo was fed up with the nickel and diming, not only the lockkers and the training table, but he was being squeezed with his recruiting budget.
I don't know what was going on in Springfield and I wouldn't have mentioned any of this stuff, but it has now surfaced here and on other boards.
