For me, this isn’t all that hard. Pearl shouldn’t have lied about the BBQ at his house and he shouldn’t have tried to get the recruits to lie about it. It was a low level violation and he should’ve just confessed and it would’ve been a nonissue and that shows a real lack of judgment on his part. Recognizing that I don’t have all the information, I also think UT AD should’ve done a better job of protecting Pearl and letting him know we had his back if he just confessed. I’m also not sure we should’ve canned him even after he lied as he had UT basketball near its highest level, if not highest level, in history. We should’ve done what was necessary to keep him no matter what in my mind. We could’ve avoided all the agony with Cuonzo, Tyndall, and the first two Barnes years. So, I think we should’ve never let Pearl go and I wish he was still UT’s coach.
That said, I’m very satisfied with Barnes. I think he’s a great coach and he has UT near the highest levels of its history. Since Pearl was let go, I cannot imagine UT doing much better than Barnes. And so, I am a big Barnes fan.