The University of California announced Tuesday morning that Cuonzo Martin, the former head coach at the University of Tennessee, had been named the new men's basketball head coach at Cal.
The move came as a shock to many Vols fans.
Why would Martin leave after a run to the Sweet 16? Why would he leave the $500,000 raise Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart offered him on the table?
The irony is the same fans who are surprised by Martin leaving were the same ones calling for his head the past two seasons. They're the same fans who started a petition to bring back former head coach Bruce Pearl and fire Martin.
It's eerily similar to a situation that hits a lot closer to home in Memphis. Sure, fans haven't started any petitions to fire Josh Pastner, but they have tried to get the hashtag trending.
I'm not saying fans should be worried because Pastner isn't going anywhere right now, but he might bolt eventually if Tiger fans continue to hound him for having solid seasons. He says he loves the fans' passion good or bad, but the bad can get be a bit overbearing.
Pastner has missed the NCAA Tournament only once in his five-year stint at the University of Memphis, and it came during his first season with the program in shambles. Since that first year, the Tigers have been regulars in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll, and they've made the tournament each season.
Very few programs have made the tournament in each of the last four seasons, but fans don't see that. Fans see the tournament as a guarantee, and they are displeased with Pastner's inability to make it out of the first weekend.
Pastner makes around double the money Martin makes, so it would be much tougher for him to leave Memphis in the dust. But you never know when a school like Cal will swoop in at the right time-just ask Tennessee fans.
And Memphis fans shouldn't think they can lose Pastner and go hire some stud coach. These past two years have been tough for schools like Memphis trying to hire coaches.
Buzz Williams left Marquette in March to go to Virginia Tech, and Marquette missed on several of their targets to replace Williams. They settled for Steve Wojciechowski, a Duke assistant.
Wojciechowski may do great at Marquette, but he was certainly not who the Golden Eagles had in mind.
Boston College hired Jim Christian, who coached at Ohio University the past two seasons. Christian failed to make the tournament either season at Ohio, and Boston College, a storied program, didn't raise any eyebrows with the Christian hire.
Wake Forrest hired former No. 1 pick Danny Manning after firing Jeff Bzdelik. Manning made the tournament for the first time this past season in his second season as head coach at Tulsa.
The point is there just aren't a lot of coaches looking to leave their schools for places like Memphis, Marquette, Tennessee and the like. The only schools with the power to draw big name coaches are North Carolina, Kansas, Duke, and Kentucky. Outside of those, it's tough for most schools to find high-level coaches to come to their school, so it's important to hold onto them once you've got them.
Tennessee fans want to throw around names like Witchita State's Gregg Marshall, VCU's Shaka Smart and Xavier's Chris Mack to replace Martin, but they probably won't end up making a splash with this hire.
Tiger fans should take notice of Tennessee's coaching woes. And be careful what you wish for, because the Vols weren't.
