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California, Martin finally sign official contract

Cuonzo Martin, Tyrone Wallace

Cuonzo Martin and Tyrone Wallace at media day, AP Photo

AP

Back in April 2014 California hired Cuonzo Martin to be lead its men’s basketball program following the retirement of Mike Montgomery. While the two sides clearly had an agreement, Martin never signed an official contract and they simply worked off of the terms of the offer sheet. That “technicality” gained more attention this spring with the investigation into former assistant Yann Hufnagel (who’s now at Nevada) due to allegations of sexual harassment made by a female reporter.

As part of the investigation the school looked into Martin’s actions to ensure that he acted properly once made aware of the allegations. And with a contract having yet to be signed, there were questions as to whether or not the investigation could lead to Martin losing his job.

In the end Martin was found to have acted properly, and shortly after releasing its findings on the investigation the school announced that its head coach has finally signed an official contract.

While it’s understandable why there would be a delay in Martin’s signing a contract this spring given the ongoing investigation, what’s the reason for it taking more than two years?

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the reason given by current athletic director Mike Williams was the lack of a full-time athletic director. Sandy Barbour, who’s now at Penn State, hired Martin before being relieved of her duties two months later. Williams would serve as interim AD for ten months before having the tag removed.

With this all cleared up, it should help Martin and his staff on the recruiting front as they look to not only build on last season’s NCAA tournament appearance but stick around a bit longer than they did (first round loss to Hawai’i).