By Morris Phillips

Purdue man leaves Tennessee to coach the Golden Bears. 

Must be a story there. 

 

And there is.

Cuonzo Martin is leaving the Tennessee Volunteers to replace Mike Montgomery at Cal.  Martin spent three years in Knoxville following four years as head coach at Missouri State.   The former Purdue player appeared to be staying with Tennessee after leading the Vols on a season concluding run and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance. But discord ran deep between Martin and Tennessee fans who campaigned loudly that he not be retained for a fourth year.
While others like former Warriors coach Eric Musselman and former UCLA coach Ben Howland were mentioned in the search, Martin was not. It wasn’t until Xavier coach Chris Mack apparently turned down the job that the Tennessee coach was seriously considered.
The Bears return David Kravish, Jabari Bird, Jordan Mathews and Tyrone Wallace to a team that finished tied for fourth in the Pac-12 and made an NIT appearance.