Cuonzo Martin Hired As Head Coach At Tennessee

The Boiling Point: Former Purdue player and assistant coach Cuonzo Martin has been named Tennessee’s new head coach.

Adding to the slew of talk concerning Purdue coaching the past couple days, former Boilermaker Cuonzo Martin has been hired as Tennessee’s new head coach today. This follows the messy ending between Bruce Pearl and Tennessee. It also shows what Martin is thought of in the coaching world. He is being trusted to clean up the mess Pearl left, which is likely to include some type of sanctions or restrictions.

Martin resigned from his coaching position at Missouri State on Sunday after three seasons with the Bears. He had a 61-41 record at Missouri State with 50 of those wins in the last two seasons. He led them to the regular season Missouri Valley Conference title this year, compiling a 26-9 overall record. Martin was also named the MVC Coach of the Year. He was an assistant to Gene Keady and Matt Painter at Purdue from 2000-2008.

If, and that is a gigantic if, Painter were to leave Purdue for Missouri, this would be a big blow to the coaching search. Many people thought Martin would be the lead candidate as a replacement to Painter. That would now be out of the picture, most likely. On the other hand, this could be a sign Painter is staying put, as you’d have to imagine ‘Zo would be in the loop with that situation, and not take a gig that’s about to be strapped by sanctions if he knew Painter was leaving town. Or, he could simply have an out-clause in his contract. Either way, it looks to be an interesting week in for Purdue fans.

Look for an updated coaching tree after all these rumors die down and an official statement has been released regarding Painter.