Cuonzo Martin is back in the Southeastern Conference, but on Wednesday the new Missouri men's basketball coach said he may never have left the league in the first place, had his personal circumstances been different.
Martin, who coached Tennessee from 2011 to 2014, appeared on Paul Finebaum's radio show during a break in the SEC's spring meetings in Destin, Fla. He told Finebaum his family was the deciding factor in leaving Knoxville after guiding the Vols to the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 in 2014.
"If I was single, I probably would have stayed at Tennessee," Martin said. "But when you make decisions based on your family, to me that is the most important thing in doing this."
Martin turned down a contract extension and a raise from former Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart and left to coach at the University of California, Berkeley after a tumultuous run in Knoxville that included a petition signed by roughly 40,000 fans asking for the return of former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl.
The 45-year-old husband and father of three told ESPN in 2015 that he had cameras installed in and around his family's Knoxville home as the clamoring for Pearl's return grew louder.
"You had (16,000) or 18,000 fans every night (at Tennessee games)," Martin told Finebaum. "It wasn't as if people weren't enjoying the games. But on the flipside, fans want what they want. There's nothing wrong with that. Fans have the right to cheer and do the things they want to do, however they want to do them. Whoever they want to coach the teams, that's fine."
Martin said he still learned, grew and developed as a coach while at Tennessee.
"Everybody makes it out like Tennessee was the worst thing," he said. "It wasn't the worst thing. It was a great experience for me."
Martin spent the past three seasons guiding the Golden Bears to a 62-39 record and one NCAA tournament appearance before taking the Missouri job in March.
His path to rebuilding a program that has gone 27-67 over the past three seasons will require him to coach against Pearl, who is now at Auburn, and to face Tennessee. The 2018 SEC schedule has not been released yet.
As with leaving Tennessee, making the move to Missouri required assessing what was best for his family, Martin said. The East St. Louis, Ill., native was familiar with the school from growing up nearby, but Missouri's location was the last factor considered, he said.
Leaving California had to be a family endeavor.
"That's what it came down to, just making sure they were OK" he said. "It was tough to leave California, very tough - the diversity, the community, the culture.
"I learned so much being out in California, I just think the whole world should experience what it means to be in the Bay Area in that atmosphere and that environment, especially when you're raising children. I learned a tremendous amount there."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.