I think what happened to Bruce parallels the Greek myth about Icarus, who flew too close to the sun with his wings of wax and fell to his death.
Bruce came to UT and lit a fire under Tennessee basketball. He took players with limited talent and found ways to win. He embraced abandoned traditions (orange blazer, pinstripe warmups), welcomed back former Vol heroes (King, Grunfeld), and endeared himself to fans and students by being bold, being accessible, being outwardly humble and giving of his time and money (Dane Bradshaw scholly), constantly promoting UT basketball and raising our profile, and by fielding teams that played extremely hard and relished the underdog role.
Then something changed.
Tennessee basketball was relevant again. You could often find Bruce on PTI or Jim Rome. We started getting looks from highly-rated recruits. Sure ... they weren't the cream of the crop, but highly-ranked, nonetheless. Even got a few McDonald's All-Americans to join up. Bruce was hitting the Big Time now. He bought a nice, big house in Gettysvue. He traded up for a new wife. The world was his oyster. The only problem is the players he was getting (while good) weren't elite -- they weren't quite good enough to take Tennessee where Big Time Bruce wanted to go -- where he needed to go. These players all had some fatal flaw (tweeners, too slow, no leadership skills, tendency to disappear, no defense, poor shooting, inconsistent effort, etc.). To get the elite players, Bruce decided bending the rules a little (or a lot) would be a means to the end he desired. He compromised his own ethics and the ethics of the University to take himself and UT basketball to a place it's never been.
This sort of thing happens all the time. Politicians, preachers, celebrities, executives -- their heads get swollen and they start thinking they are above reproach, then something triggers their downfall (John Edwards, Jimmy Swaggert, and a number of others come to mind).
It's disappointing for me. I like Bruce Pearl. I even have a picture of him and me on my desk ... taken at one of the countless fundraisers for charity he attended. I appreciate that he made UT basketball exciting again, and will always love him for that. But moving on is the absolute right decision for the University and the program. I wish him the best, but look forward to getting past this and moving to even greater heights ... the right way, this time.
Bruce came to UT and lit a fire under Tennessee basketball. He took players with limited talent and found ways to win. He embraced abandoned traditions (orange blazer, pinstripe warmups), welcomed back former Vol heroes (King, Grunfeld), and endeared himself to fans and students by being bold, being accessible, being outwardly humble and giving of his time and money (Dane Bradshaw scholly), constantly promoting UT basketball and raising our profile, and by fielding teams that played extremely hard and relished the underdog role.
Then something changed.
Tennessee basketball was relevant again. You could often find Bruce on PTI or Jim Rome. We started getting looks from highly-rated recruits. Sure ... they weren't the cream of the crop, but highly-ranked, nonetheless. Even got a few McDonald's All-Americans to join up. Bruce was hitting the Big Time now. He bought a nice, big house in Gettysvue. He traded up for a new wife. The world was his oyster. The only problem is the players he was getting (while good) weren't elite -- they weren't quite good enough to take Tennessee where Big Time Bruce wanted to go -- where he needed to go. These players all had some fatal flaw (tweeners, too slow, no leadership skills, tendency to disappear, no defense, poor shooting, inconsistent effort, etc.). To get the elite players, Bruce decided bending the rules a little (or a lot) would be a means to the end he desired. He compromised his own ethics and the ethics of the University to take himself and UT basketball to a place it's never been.
This sort of thing happens all the time. Politicians, preachers, celebrities, executives -- their heads get swollen and they start thinking they are above reproach, then something triggers their downfall (John Edwards, Jimmy Swaggert, and a number of others come to mind).
It's disappointing for me. I like Bruce Pearl. I even have a picture of him and me on my desk ... taken at one of the countless fundraisers for charity he attended. I appreciate that he made UT basketball exciting again, and will always love him for that. But moving on is the absolute right decision for the University and the program. I wish him the best, but look forward to getting past this and moving to even greater heights ... the right way, this time.