Bruce Pearl is moving on...

viking611 · Mar 28, 2005

Hire would be Vols' sixth in 16 years

ESPN.com news services

Bruce Pearl will be introduced as Tennessee's basketball coach Monday after leading Wisconsin-Milwaukee on a surprising run through the NCAA Tournament, a source close to the negotiations told The Associated Press.

Pearl was to be introduced at an afternoon news conference in Knoxville, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pearl, who took Wisconsin-Milwaukee to the NCAA round of 16 this year for the first time in the program's 109-year history, visited Knoxville on Saturday to tour the campus and meet with school officials.

A spokesman for Wisconsin-Milwaukee did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Bobby Lutz of Charlotte and Pearl were the only interviewed candidates remaining to replace Buzz Peterson, who was fired March 13 after a 14-17 season. It was Peterson's second losing record in four years with the Volunteers.

Mike Anderson of Alabama-Birmingham and Dana Altman of Creighton pulled their names out of contention over the weekend.

The Panthers, seeded 12th in the NCAA Tournament, upset Alabama and Boston College before losing to top-seeded Illinois 77-63 in the semifinal of the Chicago Regional.

Pearl has said it would take a blockbuster deal to get him to leave Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where his contract includes a $275,000 to $300,000 base salary over five years.

Peterson had a total compensation package of about $850,000, and Tennessee reportedly was willing to pay more for his successor.

The Tennessean reports that Tennessee will offer Pearl a contract in excess of $1 million per year.

Pearl has deflected questions about leaving since his team's surprising run in the tournament.

He pointed to the nine years he spent at Division II Southern Indiana as proof of his loyalty to a program. He stayed for six seasons at Southern Indiana after winning the national championship in 1995.

Fifteen years ago, Pearl was an assistant coach at Iowa when he secretly taped a phone call to an Illinois recruit. He gave that tape to the NCAA and touched off a 16-month investigation that resulted in Illinois being banned from the postseason in 1991.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

RPM · Mar 28, 2005

WOW. over a million per year. its good to be a college bball coach!~

HuckFinn · Mar 28, 2005

take the money and run!! it could very well be another 109 years before wisconsin-milwaukee gets back into the sweet 16....HF

Chris@OlympicSports · Mar 28, 2005

Should love SEC , he can tape every phone conversation as SEC is worst conference for cheating

Illini · Mar 28, 2005

Chris@ Olympic Sports said:
Should love SEC , he can tape every phone conversation as SEC is worst conference for cheating

That's funny. What a fukking snake he is.

viking611 · Mar 28, 2005

Might be a snake but atleast he's not cheating like the Illini!!:finger:

Jarbo · Mar 28, 2005

Illini said:
That's funny. What a fukking snake he is.

Jimmy Collins and Lou "Do" Henson are the F ucking snakes. Cheating, whining, Anaconda's.

Illini · Mar 28, 2005

Jarbo said:
Jimmy Collins and Lou "Do" Henson are the F ucking snakes. Cheating, whining, Anaconda's.

Can't stand either one of them.

D2bets · Mar 28, 2005

viking611 said:
Might be a snake but atleast he's not cheating like the Illini!!:finger:

"Cheating" would be a present tense verb implying that they are currently cheating. I think you meant "cheated like the Illini", in the past tense. Right?

The only thing Illinois is currently cheating is the law of probabilities -- by remaining in the tournament after trailing by a seemingly insurmountable margin. It has to really be killing you the way they made that comeback, Viking. You had to have already been in full planning mode for all of the needling and ribbing you were ready to give us Illini fans. That's gotta hurt. I mean bad.

Coast2Coast · Mar 28, 2005

Bruce Pearl was a truth teller. Had he told his story to the media they would have loved him as one of their "anonymous sources" that got one of them a juicy investigative story. Instead he told his story to the NCAA, which makes him a "snake" in the eyes of Illini media and fans. The real snakes in this episode are: 1)the street agent buddy of Jimmy Collins who was the go-between in the deal with Deon Thomas and the guy who told Pearl about the cash and cars deal with Thomas in the first place; and 2) Deon Thomas who lied to Pearl or lied to the NCAA about it. If Thomas wasn't offered cars and cash, then why did he admit it on the phone in the first place? Collins' anger toward Pearl has been misplaced. He should have been angry with his "friend" who told Pearl about the deals Colllins was supposedly cutting and with Thomas who implicated Collins in the phone conversation with Pearl. Instead, Collins, the Illini media and fans choose to shoot the messenger. I wonder if, in their mind, Deep Throat was a snake for squealing on the Nixon administration's illegal activity in Watergate? How about Karen Silkwood? Was she a snake too for unmasking criminal environmental problems with her employer? It's an interesting society we live in when truth tellers exposing unlawful activity are considered snakes.

Ego74 · Mar 28, 2005

Chris@ Olympic Sports said:
Should love SEC , he can tape every phone conversation as SEC is worst conference for cheating

yep, it's the Police's fault when someone's caught committing a crime. We woulda gotten away with it, if not for those damn kids and that mangy dog!!!!

bucsfan67 · Mar 28, 2005

Met Pearl many times, Tennessee can have the arrogant guy, and his attitude..

He is a good coach, no doubt, and will probably do well there...

However, USI hasnt missed a beat since he left, and the new coach is actually a nice guy in the community...

Tips too........

Dawoofdaddy · Mar 28, 2005

Huck Finn said:
take the money and run!! it could very well be another 109 years before wisconsin-milwaukee gets back into the sweet 16....HF

:lolBIG: Could be true, but this wmilw team knocked two good teams out of tournament.

Coast2Coast · Mar 28, 2005

i used to live in knoxville. based on what i know about the program and the AD and based on what people like bucsfan say about Pearl...the two parties probably deserve each other. Pearl may be a "truth teller" but a no-tipping arrogant SOB won't play well in Knoxville. Had one of those already. His name was Kevin O'Neill. He lasted two seasons.

Ego74 · Mar 28, 2005

bucsfan67 said:
Met Pearl many times, Tennessee can have the arrogant guy, and his attitude..

He is a good coach, no doubt, and will probably do well there...

However, USI hasnt missed a beat since he left, and the new coach is actually a nice guy in the community...

Tips too........

speaking of local coaches, i met Jim Crews before he left for Army, seemed like a nice guy. Got the impression he was very private and low key, did u ever meet him, Bucs??

Ego74 · Mar 28, 2005

Coast2Coast said:
i used to live in knoxville. based on what i know about the program and the AD and based on what people like bucsfan say about Pearl...the two parties probably deserve each other. Pearl may be a "truth teller" but a no-tipping arrogant SOB won't play well in Knoxville. Had one of those already. His name was Kevin O'Neill. He lasted two seasons.

O'Neill and Pitino didn't care for each other AT ALL when they faced off in the SEC. I think Ricky liked beating O'Neill more than anyone in the conference.

Kornholio · Mar 28, 2005

Jim Crews went to the same H.S as I did. He recruited a guy I played their with also...Jeremy Stanton. 4 year starter graduated a few years ago from evansville.

bucsfan67 · Mar 28, 2005

ego74 said:
speaking of local coaches, i met Jim Crews before he left for Army, seemed like a nice guy. Got the impression he was very private and low key, did u ever meet him, Bucs??

Yeah Crews was a Bobby Knight Desciple, all the way......as far as discipline, family life, etc.....But he didnt care for the limelight like Bobby does...

He was mild mannered, and a nice guy to talk to.....Loves the game...

YOu got the idea if they hadnt asked him to do the Jim Crews Show, he certainly WOULDNT have suggested it...

volhound · Mar 28, 2005

anything will be better than what we have had the last 25-30 yrs

Illini · Mar 28, 2005

Nobody will ever know exactly what happened in that Illinois-Bruce Pearl fiasco. Thomas said that Pearl baited him, and he was just trash talking when he told Pearl that Illinois gave him this and that. Am I naive? Maybe, because I was a young child, and a die-hard Illinois fan at the time. I do know that one guy that was recruited by both Iowa and Illinois, but that chose Notre Dame was LaPhonso Ellis. His mother said that Pearl was the one that was dirty, not Collins, but it was a long time ago, and my memory is a little foggy.