My Thoughts On The End Of The Bruce Pearl Era At The University Of Tennessee
The news that had been speculated all last week is now come to fruition. Tennessee fired head coach Bruce Pearl. Sure, he was beloved by the fans and his players, but the fact still remains that he did lie to the NCAA. I personally loved his enthusiasm and the excitement he brought not only to Tennessee, but to college basketball.
The move of firing Pearl will have serious repercussions on Tennessee basketball. There will definitely be some kids leaving the program either by going to the NBA or transferring out. Also, this move will affect the recruits that were headed to Knoxville to play under Pearl as well. This program had reached new heights with Pearl and will undoubtedly fall into an abyss of bad basketball for a few years.
Now that Pearl is out at Tennessee, why stop there? I think Mike Hamilton should follow him out the door. He has made plenty of errors whiles he’s been at Tennessee. From the Lane Kiffin era which encompassed one year and a ton of NCAA violations, to the announcing of Bruce Pearl being evaluated after the tournament right before their tournament game, he hasn’t exactly been the best athletic director. If a coach can get ran out of town by the school when he has taken a seemingly dormant basketball program to 6 straight NCAA tournaments, then why can’t a guy who has seemed to have brought a lot of sanctions and lost control of the athletic department at times be subject to getting fired too? I’ve never met Hamilton. I’ve heard he’s a good guy, but Pearl was reportedly a good guy too and he just got let go.
Now as far as who the next coach should be, I think Tennessee should consider making a run at two coaches: Butler’s Brad Stevens and VCU’s Shaka Smart. I want to reiterate that these coaches are merely my suggestions, but whomever Tennessee hires, they have to give them a long-term contract like what Indiana’s Tom Crean got because they are about to get hit with serious sanctions from the NCAA.
Only time will tell what happens in Knoxville, but I know one thing is for sure, Tennessee is losing a good coach that made some mistakes. He will be sorely missed in Knoxville for what he brought to Tennessee. I think he could possibly be coaching on some school’s sideline in the future, but that’s up in the air because of the pending NCAA ruling. Only time will tell.
Mike Patton
The Everyday Man's Sports Blog 
Good post…
Thanks.
Good post…I hope that we can get someone that will come in to try & salvage something. Bringing in someone exciting could help to keep a few of the players. Another thing that really made me mad yesterday was the fact that they had to make the announcement yesterday! It completely overshadowed the Lady Vol’s second round game vs. Marquette. A program that has brought 8 National Championships to the school, and I think that is wrong. Even during their game the announcers mentioned the Pearl situation & what bad timing. And then in Pat’s interview directly after the game, instead of really focusing on the win she was asked her opinion on Bruce Pearl. Also, it was the first day of Spring Football practice. Why could they not wait even just one more day. Someone in the PR department needs to get their act together!
That was a huge mistake by the PR department. The announcement should have came today, not yesterday.