Fourth in a series previewing SEC basketball teams
HOOVER, Ala. — Small surprise Bruce Pearl is happy to be back holding practices at Tennessee.
Pearl, under fire from the NCAA and working without a contract from the university, sat at a podium in front of a sea of media at SEC media day Thursday. While cameras and recorders were readied, Pearl cracked a smile.
“Who wants to be first? I know you’re all champing at the bit,” Pearl said.
The Volunteers return two starters and nine lettermen from last year’s 28-9 team that reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. With a talented recruiting class, talk would be expected to center on Tennessee’s promising outlook for this year.
Instead, Tennessee is embroiled in an NCAA investigation that has already took a toll on Pearl. The school terminated his contract in early September after Pearl admitted lying to the NCAA and encouraging others to do the same.
Pearl, the university said in a termination letter, knowingly committed violations by having three junior recruits on unofficial visits come to his house for a cookout in September 2008. One of those players is guard Jordan McRae, who enrolled at Tennessee and is trying to get his eligibility reinstated for this year.
The other two recruits, Aaron Craft and Josh Selby, had orally committed to Tennessee. Craft is now at Ohio State, and Selby is at Kansas.
Tennessee self-imposed penalties, including cutting Pearl’s salary by $1.5 million and banning the staff from off-campus recruiting for one year. Pearl’s five-year, $11.5-million contract was terminated, and he and the school are hashing out the details of a five-year, $10-million contract.
Until that contract is signed, Pearl is an “at-will” employee, meaning either he or the school could sever the relationship at any point. Pearl and Tennessee Athletic Director Mike Hamilton said that won’t happen.
“Certainly in college you’re always concerned about there’s not a lot of job security,” Pearl said. “That has never been a concern. The University of Tennessee has been tremendously supportive. We have to be accountable for our mistakes, and we have to go in front of the NCAA and visit with them and make sure they’re satisfied with some of the corrective actions we’ve taken, which are very severe and warranted.”
That the NCAA infractions - there are possibly four major violations being investigated - involve Pearlis interesting considering his history. In 1989, Pearl, then an assistant at Iowa, recorded a phone conversation with Illinois recruit Deon Thomas in which Thomas seemed to confirm Pearl’s assertion that Illinois assistant Jimmy Collins gave Thomas money and a car to commit.
Pearl gave the recordings to the NCAA and a subsequent NCAA investigation found no wrongdoing regarding Thomas but did uncover other violations that got Illinois sanctioned by the NCAA. It also made Pearl a pariah in the coaching world.
“You have a responsibility to play by the rules, and you have a responsibility when others don’t, sometimes actions need to be taken,” Pearl said. “So I can live with what I’ve done in the past and the mistakes that I’ve made now. I know over the period of 25-26 years ... we’ve done it right for the most part for a long time.”
Pearl said the off-court controversy hasn’t affected the Volunteers’ preparation for this season. Pearl said he apologized to his players, who he believes forgave him.
“It was tough to see that Coach Pearl was hurt and he had to go through that,” junior guard Scotty Hopson said. “We’re a family, we stick behind him in everything he does. We know everyone makes mistakes, but we’ve bounced back and we’re just focused on our team.”
Tennessee will be led by Hopson, who averaged 12 points as a sophomore, and center Brian Williams. The Volunteers also signed highly recruited forward Tobias Harris and two other freshmen, including McRae.
“It has been therapy to get back onto the court,” Pearl said. “This is my favorite time of the year where we’re teaching. We have 14 good basketball players at the University of Tennessee and finding five starters and 10 guys in the rotation will be my most challenging job.”
As long as he has one.
Next: Mississippi State
Sports, Pages 17 on 10/26/2010