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Maybe some of you don't get it; maybe you don't want to. Obviously you are not a Southern Californian.

Parts of L.A. (SoCen, Watts, some of Anaheim, etc.) with racial tension are not big areas. In Knoxville, they would seem large.

Los Angeles metro is over 10 times the size of Knoxville--- TEN TIMES THE SIZE.

Regarding the interview(s) there was a "disconnect." Jones and he did not connect well. Nobody's fault, perhaps. Perhaps a move to make sure another Cincinnati coach could come here. No way to prove either.

Martin makes more than $400,000 per year plus bonuses, cars, expenses & other benefits at private USC, that public universities cannot pay.

Tee Martin Drive was only named after him after ill feelings. Black leaders suggested racism in NOT naming one after him, following the 1998 championship, since Manning already had a street.

Dooley ignored him, when he wanted to come back to UT---ignored one of the best young recruiters in College Football---despite almost a lily-white coaching staff & only marginally good recruiting.

Martin would have had to start over, for far less money, in an area with a fraction the opportunities, where many people think he did not get equal opportunity. ( name the street, turned down as a coach, etc.)

Martin's wife is a singer, who can find more work & exposure in a month in L.A. than a decade in Knoxville.

He is building a motivational speaker business as a 2nd career. Exposure, contacts in L.A. & other benefits are at least 100 times better than Knoxville.

U.S.C. will always be a national brand; in seven years Hamilton, Hart, Dooley & Kiffen destroyed what Dickey, Majors & Fulmer took 25 years to build, here.

Martin & family can live years & never hear much about race, at his standard of living, in L.A. But in Knoxville/East Tennessee, that is simply not so. & everybody---especially blacks---are aware of it.

So in Los Angeles, Martin has far more opportunities & so do the members of his family. & race will almost not be much hurdle.
Many of those posting about him have no clue about what it is like to be a minority. Most do not know what involved with two sets of children, either.

Some comments, frankly, are red-necked, ignorant & offensive to minorities like Jews, Blacks, Hispanics, & others who did not grow up on some mountainside near Knoxville---offensive enough that if his children read this newspaper or other online Vols' chatboards,

red-necked comments will prove to them Martin made the right decision in not coming back.

He has an older child here is from a previous relationship. Obviously he is not as involved as if the relationship had worked out differently. There have even been horrid comments about that.

To many criticizing him: please be quiet; your ignorance is showing.

The kind of comments from some of the ignorant on these sites help to underscore that Martin would be taking a step backward to return.