patrick
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I Call FOUL!!
As a graduate of the University of Tennessee and supporter of the recently deposed head coach of the Tennessee mens basketball program, Bruce Pearl, I Call FOUL on the following Administrators and the local sports media who have chosen to "kick a man (Bruce Pearl) while he is down":
Chancellor Jimmy Cheek
Men's AD Mike Hamilton
Jimmy Hyams
Mickey Dearstone
Heather Harrington
David Climer
John Pennington
Megan Boehnke
Andrew Gribble
Wes Rucker
Sam Venable
Will West
Josh Ward.
The firing of Bruce Pearl on Monday came as quite a shock to many people in the "VolNation" despite the NCAA investigation which has been widely publicized. And why were Tennessee fans blindsided? The answer is simple On September 10, 2010, Chancellor Cheek and AD Mike Hamilton stated in a press conference that Bruce Pearl would remain as the Vols basketball coach. Chancellor Cheek has also been quoted as saying,
"Coach Pearl is our coach... He's going to be our coach for many, many years. We're going to get through this adversity and we're going to be stronger as a result of it.''
More recently (02/22/11), Hamilton went so far as to say:
"its UTs intention to keep mens basketball coach Bruce Pearl on staff even if the NCAA imposes a one-year suspension...
Not only was Bruce Pearl fired, to add insult to injury, Hamiltons press release eluded to additional NCAA violations occurring on "September 14 and in March 2011". Hamilton went on to say that "the cumulative effect of the evolution of the investigation combined with a number of more recent non-NCAA-related incidents have led to a belief that this staff cannot be viable at Tennessee in the future". We all know that the September 14 incident was the "bump" rule infraction which has been detailed by numerous media outlets.
However, what is the alleged NCAA violation which occurred in March 2011? According to an anonymous source, a Tennessee basketball player received extra tickets to UTs March 6 home game against Kentucky. The infraction constituted a secondary violation by the coaching staff (per the source) but the "infraction" was handled internally, with the price of the tickets reimbursed by the player. Are you kidding me??? This is one of the two supposed straws that broke the camels back!!! Child please
Per the NCAA Compliance Manual, Rule 16.2.1.1 - Institutional Events in the Student-Athletes Sport, an institution may provide four complimentary admissions per home or away intercollegiate athletics event to a student-athlete in the sport in which the individual participates (either practices or competes), regardless of whether the student-athlete competes in the contest. Moreover, the Rules require that Complimentary Admissions shall be provided only through a pass list for individuals designated by the student-athlete. "Hard tickets" shall not be issued. A violation of this administrative procedure shall be considered an institutional violation per Constitution 2.8.1. (Rule 16.2.1.2) The individual using the complimentary admission must present identification to the person supervising the use of the pass list at the admission gate. The individual then shall be provided a ticket stub or other identification of a specified reserved seat or seating area or treated as a general-admission ticket holder. (Rule 16.2.1.2.1)
It goes without saying that Bruce Pearl was the head coach when this "infraction" occurred however he did not participate in the administration of the "pass list". In fact, UT has a website in place per NCAA requirements for student-athletes to obtain their complimentary admissions known as "The Guest Management System for University of Tennessee Athletics". The student- athlete must use his or her "login" and "password" to access the system. If a mens basketball player encounters a problem using the system, the website instructs him to contact Karen Seal at UT, not Bruce Pearl.
It is laughable to lay the blame for the ticket infraction at Pearls feet. In as much as "hard tickets" are not even distributed to student-athletes, just how did the player obtain the extra complimentary admissions? Perhaps one of Knoxvilles fine journalists would go beyond simply regurgitating what an anonymous source at UT told them, and would actually investigate this matter on their own! A good place to start would be with the UT ticket office or Ms. Karen Seal!
Lets now take a closer look at the "more recent non-NCAA-related incidents" alluded to by Hamilton in his statement [which were apparently relied upon in the decision to fire Bruce Pearl and his staff]. This is the other straw that broke the camels back. Multiple media outlets are reporting that the non-NCAA-related incident(s) was a violation of the Tennessee athletic department substance abuse policy by UT senior forward Brian Williams. Williams missed the last two regular-season games at South Carolina and at home against Kentucky due to what team officials said was a bad back. The allegation is that this was a cover-up committed by Bruce Pearl and his staff so that Williams would not be kicked off team which would have doomed any NCAA tournament run.
Here again, no Knoxville sports writer or radio host has taken the initiative to actually thoroughly investigate the alleged cover-up! I have yet to see any reference by any one of these "milk-toast" hacks to the actual substance abuse testing policy and procedure utilized by the University of Tennessee! Since they cannot or will not do their jobs with any reasonable level of credibility, I have chosen to do it for them. I have provided just below the flow chart that is taken directly from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Department of Intercollegiate Athletics "Substance Abuse Testing Policy and Procedures".
APPENDIX C: SUBSTANCE ABUSE TESTING FLOWSHEET (see attachment)
The athlete is notifed of the date and time of the drug test and is required to promply present himself for the drug test at the proper location and provide a photo ID. Contrary to public opinion, the test is not administered by the Tennessee mens basketball staff rather by a "collection agent appointed by an approved professional laboratory" and the student-athlete is "directly observed" providing a specimen by either the collection agent or approved sports medicine staff member. The approved professional laboratory courier will transport the specimens to the laboratory where they will be received by a laboratory agent who will sign for them. All signatures will attest that the official seal on the specimen bottle remains intact, and that proper chain of custody was maintained. All test results are returned by the testing lab directly to the Head Team Physician who then shares the results with the Mens Subcommittee (positive results are also communicated to student-athletes parents or legal guardian).
I must point out that no where within the policy and procedure manual does it instruct the lab to deliver the results to the head coach and to him only! When a positive result is received by the Team Physician, the Team Physician notifies the Sport Administrator, the Compliance Officer, and get this wait for it, the Athletic Director!!! The drug testing procedures also dictate that the Senior Associate Athletic Director in consultation with the Athletic Director implements the consequences! UT does in fact have a "three strikes and youre out policy" based upon a third positive test for illegal/banned substance "the student-athlete will be permanently suspended from intercollegiate athletic competition at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville".
The first positive drug test can result in suspension from intercollegiate athletic competition or team practice as deemed appropriate by the Athletic Director upon consultation with the Mens Subcommittee. At the Athletics Directors discretion, the student-athlete may be permanently suspended. A second positive drug test will result in the student-athlete being suspended from intercollegiate competition and/or practice per the Athletic Director. This suspension is equal to no less than 10% of the scheduled competitions for the respective sport or 30 consecutive days of suspension from all team related activities. It appears to this Volunteer fan that the athlete in question must have had his second positive drug test, if at all... but I digress.
Getting back to the "flowsheet", the head coach (in this case Bruce Pearl) is one of the last to know about the positive test!! I would guess that all parties including the Sport Administrator, the Athletic Director Mike Hamilton, the Compliance Officer, the Head Athletic Trainer, the Head Coach, and the Substance Abuse Counselor find out very quickly about a positive test result.
FYI: There is also a confidentiality clause in UTs drug testing policy and procedure and it states as follows:
The University will take every effort to maintain the confidentiality of all information and records associated with this policy, including drug-test results, impending sanctions, remedial measures taken by the University, and/or any counseling and rehabilitation services which a student-athlete may receive. Unless otherwise required by law, drug test results and related records may be disclosed only to (1) members of the Mens or Womens Subcommittees, (2) the head coach, (3) sports administrator, (4) the team physician, and/or (5) the teams designated drug and alcohol counselor. These individuals are to maintain the confidentiality of all drug test results and related information to the extent possible in the implementation of this policy and the performance of their duties. Additionally, positive drug-test results may be provided to the student-athletes parent(s).
All members of the UT Department of Athletics, including the individuals listed above, are expected to adhere to this Confidentiality Policy at all times. Violation of the policy may incur disciplinary action at the discretion of the Director of Athletics.
Any so-call "cover-up" was conducted with the full support and confidence of the Athletic Department. The alleged positive test was supposed to have remained confidential but apparently someone in the Athletic Department violated this policy and leaked the information to the media. Hamiltons reference (in his press release) to "other" NCAA infractions and non-NCAA infractions committed by Pearl and Co. was a deliberate premeditated attempt to turn public opinion against the deposed coaching staff.
But, what is the point you ask?
The point is that Pearl and his staff did not "cover-up" the alleged positive drug test and nor did they hide it from Mr. Hamilton. The fact of the matter is that the "Administration" knew about the supposed positive drug test and the Athletic Director had to approve the disposition of the punishment! The alleged offending player sat out a couple of games for what was stated to be a "back/hip injury".
The media has presented this misinformation as a cover-up of the highest order engineered by one, Bruce Pearl in a last-ditch effort to keep his job. The failure of Chancellor Cheek and AD Mike Hamilton to correct the record about the supposed cover-up is reprehensible in consideration of the all positive things that Bruce Pearl and his staff have given to the University and contributed to this community. THE SILENCE OF CHEEK AND HAMILTON IS DEAFENING!!!
The media is clamoring about the "cover-up" and pointing the finger at Bruce Pearl as if to say "see look look right there another misdeed how can he be trusted another reason to fire Bruce".
Their readily apparent collective glee about the demise of Bruce Pearl is disgusting! The local media members identified above are too busy sucking off of the University of Tennessee teat to provide any credible commentary about the dismissal of Pearl and his staff. I doubt that any of them have actually taken the time to investigate the allegations and innuendo which where strategically placed in Mike Hamiltons press release.
I suspect that in the 24 hours following the presser, I researched and summarized more information on student-athlete "complimentary admissions" and UTs "drug testing policy" than any of our local so-called journalists and radio hosts. If these media members had researched the issues, they would have undoubtedly stumbled across the same information that I found. The media was either less-than-diligent in their efforts or they refuse to say anything negative about the University.
In reference to the "ticket issue" and supposed "cover-up", Jimmy Hyams said on his radio show on Tuesday that "Bruce Pearl just could not stay out of trouble". You have got to be kidding me!!! In my opinion, Hyams and his cronies have lost all objectivity when discussing the major sports programs at the University of Tennessee. They lack any semblance of journalistic integrity and possess very little common decency.
You should not "kick a man when he is down"! The discrediting of Bruce Pearl and his staff has begun and the local sports media outlets are racing to the defense of the University to show their allegiance to their common benefactor! The University is trying to garner the support of Tennessee fans at the expense of Bruce Pearl.
VolNation, I encourage you to refuse to be swayed by the disinformation that is being advanced by the University and the local sports media. This is a very sad time for Tennessee basketball.
In closing, I CALL FOUL!!!
Patrick
