Originally Posted by R13
Pearl had a lot lacking as far as X's and O's go. He was the perfect coach for UT and I loved the guy but he's not some coaching philosophy guru. His assistants while he was at UT never got a look from other schools for coaching jobs (other than Tony Jones who never got an offer or a job) either. He also has a much better reputation for recruiting and for landing players than Pearl had when he came to UT. Martin has NBA experience, was a very good college player and is a coach on the 2011 USA Men’s World University Games Team after being appointed by Jim Boeheim. From Boeheim on the 2 assistants he chose "“Brad Stevens and Cuonzo Martin are two of the best young head coaches in NCAA Basketball. The players in the USA Basketball program will certainly benefit from their coaching.” Another positive about the hire, Martin is apparently a member of the regional NCAA coach's panel which can do nothing but help UT in the eyes of the NCAA.
"better coaches could have been found and at the very least prevent their recruiting from taking a bigger hit"<? Who? And what big hit has already happened? The 2 recruits they had coming in are saying they'll meet with Martin before they decide what they'll do. They've already signed LOI's so the school doesn't have to let them go anywhere. They talked to Jay Wright, Jamie Dixon, Brad Stevens, Chris Mooney, Rick Byrd, Mark Turgeron, Brian Gregory, Anthony Grant, Tad Boyle, Shaka Smart, Buzz Williams, Greg Marshall that has become public. The only one's who seemed interested were Byrd who's old as hell and would have done more damage to recruiting that just about anyone hired and Gregory who took the GT job and was happy to go anywhere to get out of Dayton. Smart, Wright, Grant, Dixon and basically everyone else said that the uncertainty with the AD and with the questions of what NCAA sanctions would be made it too much of a risk to take the job.
I don't know how things will turn out with the guy and I hope it goes well. For the problems UT has right now and with who they couldn't get; a young, black, well respected coach who made it to the NBA played for/coached under Gene Keady and Matt Painter, is better than what I though they'd have gotten. Actually since being hired he's getting a visit from a 4* rated power forward named Otto Porter who loved Martin when he was at MS but wouldn't go there because the school was too small. As soon as he heard he'd gotten the UT job he called and told him he wanted to come visit. He'd be eligible this fall to play as well. Also, the #17 ranked player in the country Ben McLemore had MS on his list of finalist and is now considering visiting UT since Martin changed jobs. Recruiting seems to have picked up 10 fold since yesterday actually.
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