quote:
Cuonzo Martin takes his team to the NCAA Tourney and gets them to the Sweet 16. But he is hated and never supported by his fanbase.

Butch Jones goes 5-7 (2-6) and misses a bowl game (which should never happen at a school like Tennessee). Yet he is already loved by the fanbase.

It isn't true that Cuonzo was "never supported by his fanbase". When he finished his first season in 2nd place in the conference (when they were a preseason pick to finish 11th), most fans thought that this reaffirmed that he was the right coach for the job. Then things started to crumble. Yes, UT made it to the sweet 16 this season, but this was the first season they made it to the NCAA tourney under Martin's watch.

A lot of UT fans had high expectations for this team. That began to fade after the season started to go into the tank. Remember that on February 23rd, UT was 6-7 in the conference and 18-11 overall. They had just been swept in the regular season by aTm and had lost 5 of their last 7 conference games (including a 4 point loss to a Vanderbilt team with 7 scholarship players). UT made a late run, and fans began to ease up...but the trust wasn't there on either side.

Jones came in after the Football program had been decimated. He faced a top 10 schedule and his teams showed improvement over what Dooley had been putting on the field. He followed that up with a top 10 recruiting class.

Martin had to follow Pearl, while Jones followed Dooley. Expectations were not the same for the two.