Counzo Martin new Tennessee Vols coach

[MSUDuo]

Pay package combined with nickel & diming will eliminate several candidates on that list.

It might, it might not. MO State is a dang good job to get a start at or rebuild at but there really isn't anything we can do about the money situation right now...

[TheTimeIsNow]

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.

I agree 100% with this. My point of posting those 3 year totals wasn't to make a case that Barry was a superior coach. I was just pointing out that he wasn't as bad as people make him out to be.

Cuonzo will definitely have a far greater impact on the college basketball landscape. He does has a lot to learn, though.

As far as the money goes, supposedly we offered him around 700k a year. That's probably as high as were going to go in the near future, and he declined. It's hard to keep around a good coach when schools are willing to throw a mil+ at him.

[beatingrillz]

The Locker room debate is interesting the old locker rooms in hammons were remodeled 2 years before JQH opened and they are less then 200 feet from the floor of JQH. At a booster banquet in Feb. it was mentioned that they have raised 550,000 of 1.2mil needed to do the locker rooms and install the ribbon board. As for Barry he caught lightening in a bottle when it came to his time here, he got great local talent the likes of which led to his 20 win seasons after that wave was gone he was giving scholarships to the likes of Jehle. MSU does have the nicest arena (the Century Link Center is not Creightons Arena it is the city of Omahas). The contract offer on the 7th was a 5 year $700,000 per with incintives to reach $1.1 million but the kicker was it significantly raised Martin's buyout from $550,000 up to $900,000 reduced by $50,000 each year he remained at MSU.

[rchif0]

Barry was an average, and at best above average coach. The difference between Barry's last 3 years and Cuonzo's first 3 years are that.. well, it was also Martin's first 3 years ever as a coach. Regardless, that doesn't matter too much. Martin is still learning, and if you watched his games you'd see he would make coaching mistakes occasionally. For all we know, Martin may end up also being an average coach, but right now his potential is much higher since he's just now beginning to be a head coach.

As far as Barry's "winning record," he was something like 33% when it came to games decided by 5 points or less. If that shows clutch coaching, you can have him in your corner if you want him. After all, he's still not a head coach, so I'm sure he'll take the job. MSU fans don't particularly care to remember him all that often anymore, but it's interesting to see how caught up and emotional other fanbases get into it still. Bradley could've hired him...

As far as Martin goes, I don't think he earned a UT job yet. UT hired him to run a clean program, well, we'll see if he has better luck keeping his incoming recruits around than he did at MSU. Several transferred out or were kicked off the team for some reason or another. But, since he's still a young head coach, maybe he'll learn to notice character a bit better. The true test of Martin would've been next season with all of the freshman and sophomores when little to no combined game experience among them. It's actually not a bad situation for an incoming head coach, because he'll have 3-4 years to groom and grow these freshmen and sophomores how he wants them. Only thing I'm worried about is the incoming recruiting class. I'd personally like for us to get someone with a similar system so that the players matched, instead of having to start from scratch in that regard.

[uniftw]

As for Barry he caught lightening in a bottle when it came to his time here, he got great local talent the likes of which led to his 20 win seasons after that wave was gone he was giving scholarships to the likes of Jehle.

You don't think Cuonzo caught lightning in the bottle with a Barry recruited Weems and some JUCO's that decided to join weems that were all seniors this past season?

[Haha]

As for Barry he caught lightening in a bottle when it came to his time here, he got great local talent the likes of which led to his 20 win seasons after that wave was gone he was giving scholarships to the likes of Jehle.

You don't think Cuonzo caught lightning in the bottle with a Barry recruited Weems and some JUCO's that decided to join weems that were all seniors this past season?

Now this argument I don't like. Sure Weems was recruited by Barry but Martin had a big part in developing him. Also so what if Martin went and got JUCO's to help win. He got them there and they won. I don't understand how that is a negative thing.

[TylerDurden]

MSU has the nicest arena in the Valley, and you claim he couldn't get a training table?

The nicest arena?

Yes, it is.

It's a nice arena, but it isn't finished.

Also, can MSU fans stop the Barry hate?

That guy won a lot at MSU, without a lot of resources. You paid him chicken feed (relatively) and he turned out a winner.

Barry has been in the running for several jobs and will get another. Give him a program that commits its resources and you'll see him in the dance.

[MSUBear42]

What was Martin making and what was the planned increase? I guess what I'm asking is how high do you think MSU is willing to pay if they come across the right experienced/successful coach.

I don't mean that to sound jerky.

He was at about 300k and the raise was to about 600k.

I would imagine that the new coach will be back at around 300k as 600k is probably our ceiling...

Too lazy to sort through this whole thread, but the final number I head was 705k with incentives up to 1.1 million.

[MoValley John]

[quote="rchif0"]Barry was an average, and at best above average coach. The difference between Barry's last 3 years and Cuonzo's first 3 years are that.. well, it was also Martin's first 3 years ever as a coach. Regardless, that doesn't matter too much. Martin is still learning, and if you watched his games you'd see he would make coaching mistakes occasionally. For all we know, Martin may end up also being an average coach, but right now his potential is much higher since he's just now beginning to be a head coach.

As far as Barry's "winning record," he was something like 33% when it came to games decided by 5 points or less. If that shows clutch coaching, you can have him in your corner if you want him. After all, he's still not a head coach, so I'm sure he'll take the job. MSU fans don't particularly care to remember him all that often anymore, but it's interesting to see how caught up and emotional other fanbases get into it still. Bradley could've hired him...

As far as Martin goes, I don't think he earned a UT job yet. UT hired him to run a clean program, well, we'll see if he has better luck keeping his incoming recruits around than he did at MSU. Several transferred out or were kicked off the team for some reason or another. But, since he's still a young head coach, maybe he'll learn to notice character a bit better. The true test of Martin would've been next season with all of the freshman and sophomores when little to no combined game experience among them. It's actually not a bad situation for an incoming head coach, because he'll have 3-4 years to groom and grow these freshmen and sophomores how he wants them. Only thing I'm worried about is the incoming recruiting class. I'd personally like for us to get someone with a similar system so that the players matched, instead of having to start from scratch in that regard.[/quote]


Your first sentance said it all, Barry Hinson was an average to above average coach. I would say he was an above average coach, but I digress....

That said, if Barry Hinson was, as you said, an average to above average coach, why the hate from so many of your fans? That is the whole crux of all of this, the hatred displayed toward Barry Hinson does not match his results and it definately doesn't match what he was paid.

[DieHardMSUFan]

I would also like to chime in on the Barry vs. Cuonzo thing.

Barry did compile nice win totals in a lot of his years, but if you go back and analyze those years, we played complete joke non-conference schedules, and if we did have good teams on the schedule, it resulted in losses. The reason for the snubs by the NCAA tournament was just that, we never beat anyone. Look at the conference seasons we had with Barry, always coming in 4th, always beating the bottom of the conference and always going 0-6 against the top of the conference.

Barry was an OK coach that took the program as far as he could. The first game Barry coached I will never forget. During a timeout late in the game, he ran out into the middle of the floor and threw his hands up and down at the crowd to get the crowd up. Of course, everyone went nuts because he was so excited. I looked at my wife and said, "oh my goodness, that will get old quick"....and it did. Barry was a very likable guy that was good for some antics and press conference quips, so everyone liked him....but that did not make him a coach that was ever going to take MSU anywhere but a 4th place conference team that never makes the NCAAs. After many years of that and his antics getting very old, the fans at MSU wanted to see the program elevated. Remember, Barry had no other schools going after him, which is why he would keep staying at MSU...he was mediocre and nobody wants to hire that....proof is in the pudding.

Whether he made the NCAAs in three years or not, Cuonzo was elevating the program and would have continued to do so. The problem we have is if they do not elevate the pay, we will either get another 3 year coach, or we will get a mediocre coach that will stay.

We shall see what happens.