Tennessee pulled a Scott Boras regarding the hiring of its new basketball coach. The Vols, who fired Bruce Pearl shortly after the team was blitzed in the first round of the NCAA tournament, released a statement announcing the hiring of former Purdue player Cuonzo Martin as its new head coach minutes after Kentucky beat North Carolina Sunday. Martin, who actually had a worse record in his three years at Missouri State than Barry Hinson did in his last three years on the job, had his hiring received with much disappointment from Vols fans.
The strongest reaction of all however came from Steven Pearl on twitter:
Steven is the former coach’s son and he has defended his father vigorously against criticism he’s received for committing NCAA violations. Steven played for the Vols and just completed his final year of eligibility with the team so he doesn’t have to worry about getting along with the new coach. Sadly, he wants Martin to fail in order to make his father look better. Clearly he’s not planning on returning for alumni functions anytime soon.
UPDATE: It appears as if Pearl has deleted his account since writing that tweet.
