KNOXVILLE -- Kenny Hall simply was having one of those days last week.
"I was in not too good of a mood," the Tennessee basketball forward said Thursday afternoon before a 30-minute individual workout session.
Hall then got an unexpected call from Marco Harris, the Volunteers' student-athlete welfare coordinator and a childhood friend of new UT coach Cuonzo Martin.
"I got a text from his mentor, so I just called to check on him," Harris said. "Everybody has those [days]."
Said Hall: "I didn't even know they knew it. They picked up on it and called me just to see what was going on. That really meant a lot to me."
The phone call might have surprised Hall, but it's par for the course for Harris and the rest of Martin's staff, who have made everyday communication via calls and text messages a priority.
"I check in with them just about every day," Harris said. "General conversations, how things are going -- nothing major. I want them to feel comfortable with me, not just around the basketball area. There has to be a relationship. I want them to know I care beyond basketball.
"That's just who I am, man. I think it's important to build relationships with these guys so they can trust you, and I think if a guy trusts you, he'll give you more on the basketball court."
The Vols are a couple of weeks into their individual workouts, in which four players are allowed on the floor at a time per NCAA rules for 30 minutes. There weren't many shots going up during Thursday's session, as Martin teaches and preaches defense above all.
Since he has yet to have his entire team practice at once, he has plenty to learn about them as basketball players. In the interim, the new staff's focus has been on the relationships with the players.
"They're one day at a time," Martin said. "I think they're going well. Now those guys might say otherwise, but I think they're going well.
"If I'm on the road, it's [an] everyday text, two or three times a day just touching base -- how's class going, how's your family, how's your mom, how's your dad, all those things. I'd do that anyway, regardless if I'm here as a first-year coach. I always do that as a players even as an assistant coach, just building relationships. You want them to be genuine."
Hall said the continual communication is a change from the previous coaching staff, though Jeronne Maymon wouldn't go that far.
"We were always in the office so we were always around the coaching staff," the junior forward said. "I just think that [the new staff's] a little more hands-on at the start of this process. Actually I'm starting to think that's who they are because they're very family-oriented.
"They like talking to us and we actually like talking to them, so I don't think it's a front or anything fake about it. I think that's who they are."
Martin and his staff ultimately have to produce on the court, but building quality relationships is going to be as much a focus of the program as defense.
"It's just the type of guys we are," Harris said. "We all played college basketball. When I played, they didn't have text messages and cell phones, so I very seldom heard from my coach unless we were practicing or I was in some type of trouble.
"I'm not just a coach, and Coach Martin is just not the coach; he's a man. Also, these guys are just not basketball players; they're young men. Part of our job is to help develop these guys, and the more you get in contact with them the more you know about them."