Bruce Pearl has on two occaisions now taken cheap shots at the Memphis Tigers at luncheons. He was quoted twice as saying "CDR and D. Rose have decided not to enter the draft, because they didn't want to take a pay cut!" Now, even as a Tiger fan I can see the humor in the statement. However, that statement is probably better suited for sitting around a bar, not at a university luncheon. Pearl is the head coach of a very good Division 1 basketball team in the Vols. The University of Tennessee is (even though it kills me to say it) is a prestigeous school with a tremendous background in all sports. In my opinion, Pearls words did not reflect well on his University. I think in the future they should hire writers for him, and keep him on a short leash.
I'm sure he made these statements to the Tennessee fans to keep the love/hate relationship going between the two schools!!! This is no surprise to me that Pearl said these things. Afterall, he needed to say something to get a laugh from his fans after ANOTHER choke job in the NCAA tourney!!!! Hey Pearl.......is the Sweet 16 as good as it will ever get for the Tennessee fans??????????
We have all seen how Pearl acts. He wants to upstage Cal at his own game. Only problem is Pearl isn't any good at it. He is a second rate immitation- he is government cheese, if you will, to Cal's Folk's Folly (Errr... Cal's Steakhouse). He wants to pull off smug, like Cal can; but he is too rude. Now don't get me wrong, I love Coach Cal. He will seem smug but will be making a compliment. Pearl is smug and will intentionally make slights and cheap shots at others. That is Pearl- CHEAP AND TRASHY. Now Coach Cal- HE IS CLASSY. Pearl is the guy that tries too hard. You know who he is, we all have friends like him, he tries too hard to get: a laugh, a girl, people to like him, etc. Case in point- painting himself freaking orange. That wasn't reachin' too far was it? Yeah, I thought so too. He is a good coach, but not great. That is why he's NEVER going to get past sweet sixteen and beating the Tigers the past couple of years was ut's version of making it to the final 4. Maybe he should enroll in the U of M this summer and take some of our world class public relations courses, or better yet- JUST KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT WHEN HE GETS WEST OF NASHVILLE!
So to any vols fans who want to start talkin' sh*t about beating us 2 years in a row: I want to say this- go ahead and have those games. Look who plays further into March. Look who gets past the 16. Look who plays in the Final 4. Look who plays in the Final. We Memphis fans will give you those little games, because when it comes down to it- WE ARE BETTER!
Well, I have to give credit where credit is due. Pearl has brought UT Knoxville's basketball program probably higher than they've ever been as far as the national spotlight, winning the SEC (first time since seatbelts were required on cars), being ranked #1 for a week (we can't be too critical of that -- the same thing happened to us our first time), and beating two very good Memphis teams two years in a row (they've beaten Memphis 5 times in a row before, but those were lousy teams). Those things are not in question -- they happened, can't deny them. Kudos, blah, blah, blah . . .
What this thread is about, however (for Vol fans who want to bring up any or all of the above facts), is the character and personality of Bruce Pearl, and I couldn't agree more that he has plenty of room for improvement in those areas. There are, of course, reasons for everything. Bruce Pearl, unlike coach Cal and most other Division I college basketball head coaches, never played basketball -- wasn't athletic, wasn't good enough to make a team, couldn't play period. But he absolutely loved the game and wanted, somehow, to be associated with it. So he worked at it from the ground up, starting as a volunteer (no pun intended) and spending 14 years as an assistant and 9 years in Division II before he ever got a chance of his own as a head coach in Division I. Then it took 4 more years before he was able to land a job as head coach at a major Division I school. So, the guy put in his time -- again, no question about it.
But back to the character issue. When he was an assistant, he recruited a player and, after losing the recruiting battle, set up the player in a phone conversation that he secretly recorded and then turned in the student and the other school to the NCAA for rules violations. What a gracious loser. The other coach calls him "a snake." There have been other telltale signs, of course, like not letting Tyler Smith out of his LOI after he wanted out when Pearl took over the program, the language and attitude at the pregame pep rally in Memphis, the groping of Erin Andrews on national TV -- but, in general, he's just an arrogant Jewish guy from Boston with a big chip on his shoulder because he couldn't play basketball himself. He does have coaching skills and somehow gets players to believe his stuff isn't all about him, but that's what he is in a nutshell. And he's turned the annual game against Memphis, which we have played for years only as an undesireable condition of UTK playing us in football, into their Super Bowl. And, to be honest, back when Memphis was struggling in the 70's, we used to do the same thing with Louisville (although they were at least in our conference.) If we just beat Louisville, that made our season a good year no matter how we actually finished. That's the way Pearl has the Vols thinking, now, and that's why they seem to want that game more than we do. They need it for a sense of accomplishment. Congratulations Bruce, you won.
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