Wes Rucker on Bruce Pearl

#26
#26
VolGee4 said:
I have no doubt it happens. But, in a well-run company, it isn't happening. It also depends on the act that is committed. If you don't burn bridges and at least take your lumps, then it is a possibility. But, you absolutely cannot burn bridges and criticize and then expect to come back to the same place. There are people that would not support him- like it or not. An organization needs unity- not division.
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Can you elaborate on these two for me? Did BP's actions burn bridges? How/when did he criticize UT?

edit: you partly answered in your last post
 
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#27
#27
Lefteye said:
Can you elaborate on these two for me? Did BP's actions burn bridges? How/when did he criticize UT?
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I have no personal knowledge of it, but that is what Rucker was getting at. Even before today, I did hear that Pearl was not happy with the administration not supporting him (which they did in a half-ass way). So, my educated guess is that privately he made it very uncomfortable in the AD's office.

Again, you don't bring someone back who will not get everyone on the same page, and that won't happen with Bruce. I loved him, though. Just too bad he made that choice.
 
#28
#28
Talk about stating the obvious. As for his bosses---they needed to be embarrassed for the way they handled the whole situation. The leadership under Cheek and Hamilton is a great example of gross incompetence. They are the ones who presided over the downfall of all the sports programs at UT including football, men's basketball, baseball and track.
 
#29
#29
VolsSportsFan said:
The more I think about it, I really wish I would have gotten into "sports journalism". Especially in this age of the internet and social media.

I mean how many of these guys make a good living writing/talking/tweeting about things that most of the time they are dead wrong about? And there is usually very little consequence for being wrong.

That or take the Hyams route and just be a week late on everything.
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It's never too late...

:)
 
#30
#30
volroadwarrior said:
Talk about stating the obvious. As for his bosses---they needed to be embarrassed for the way they handled the whole situation. The leadership under Cheek and Hamilton is a great example of gross incompetence. They are the ones who presided over the downfall of all the sports programs at UT including football, men's basketball, baseball and track.
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Well, let's make this clear. Mike Hamilton made some terrible decisions, but he had nothing to do with Bruce Pearl's demise. That cannot be lumped in the same sentence. I agree that the administration could have handled it better, but Bruce Pearl's decisions are on Bruce Pearl. The unfortunate part is that Bruce was Hamilton's best hire, and Bruce was the one that ****ed it up.
 
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#32
#32
The ONLY people who do not want us to hire Bruce back is the rest of the SEC!!!! Who of you on this board gives a RAT's ass about what the NCAA thinks??? Let those crooked bastards come!!!!!!
 
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#33
#33
VolGee4 said:
I have no personal knowledge of it, but that is what Rucker was getting at. Even before today, I did hear that Pearl was not happy with the administration not supporting him (which they did in a half-ass way). So, my educated guess is that privately he made it very uncomfortable in the AD's office.

Again, you don't bring someone back who will not get everyone on the same page, and that won't happen with Bruce. I loved him, though. Just too bad he made that choice.
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I agree with about everything here. However winning sometimes brings people to the same page. :dance2:
 
#36
#36
My question is why would the NCAA be "all over us," and if so, who cares?

The man is eligible to coach, the NCAA can't do anything if he is not doing anything wrong, and with them watching over his shoulder that won't happen. So you could spin that into a positive.

I'm sure he won't be hired but that's not because of his past. If the guy wants a job he will find one. It's because the guys running our athletic dept are an f'ING joke and seem to not really care about athletics, kind of ironic if you ask me.
 
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#37
#37
jcv0010 said:
My question is why would the NCAA be "all over us," and if so, who cares?

The man is eligible to coach, the NCAA can't do anything if he is not doing anything wrong, and with them watching over his shoulder that won't happen. So you could spin that into a positive.

I'm sure he won't be hired but that's not because of his past. If the guy wants a job he will find one. It's because the guys running our athletic dept are an f'ING joke and seem to not really care about athletics, kind of ironic if you ask me.
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We've talked about this on another thread. The NCAA doesn't have the resources to be all over him. They operate on a pretty strict budget and they are monitoring all the institutions. What they would do is just sit and wait and then pounce if it were significant enough. The lie Rucker is talking about is when Pearl and Jones went to the high school after we did self sanctions and they had contact with the recruit at the school. Also, there was one other thing too that I don't recall but it was another minor thing that Pearl's staff did. Therefore the administration does not trust Pearl. If something significant happened after they re-hired him it would probably mean their jobs too. They are not going to take the risk. They're thinking if he couldn't control himself just after it all happened and so much at stake why would he be able to control himself now and put everybody at risk? I would love to have Pearl back. But, the odds are infinitesimally small.

P.S.-At another institution they could take the risk because the history is with Pearl and not them.
 
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#38
#38
Sandvol said:
We've talked about this on another thread. The NCAA doesn't have the resources to be all over him. They operate on a pretty strict budget and they are monitoring all the institutions. What they would do is just sit and wait and then pounce if it were significant enough. The lie Rucker is talking about is when Pearl and Jones went to the high school after we did self sanctions and they had contact with the recruit at the school. Also, there was one other thing too that I don't recall but it was another minor thing that Pearl's staff did. Therefore the administration does not trust Pearl. If something significant happened after they re-hired him it would probably mean their jobs too. They are not going to take the risk. They're thinking if he couldn't control himself just after it all happened and so much at stake why would he be able to control himself now and put everybody at risk? I would love to have Pearl back. But, the odds are infinitesimally small.
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That all makes sense. I just don't see him doing anything stupid again. This would be his shot at redemption.
 
#39
#39
jcv0010 said:
My question is why would the NCAA be "all over us," and if so, who cares?

The man is eligible to coach, the NCAA can't do anything if he is not doing anything wrong, and with them watching over his shoulder that won't happen. So you could spin that into a positive.

I'm sure he won't be hired but that's not because of his past. If the guy wants a job he will find one. It's because the guys running our athletic dept are an f'ING joke and seem to not really care about athletics, kind of ironic if you ask me.
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I don't think the NCAA would be all over us. He did his time according to their rules and he's eligible to coach again. Plus, back then, they were hammering everybody with too severe of penalties. Since all the bad press about them the last few years they have backed off. Hardly punished Miami this year for doing much worse than BP. Not to mention all the other stuff they have let slide like Auburn, Jonny Football, etc. I don't think that part matters. It's all about UT administration. Did he burn bridges or not? If so, is it too much to overcome? Or is winning, money, and a fan favorite coach returning enough to let it go?
 
#43
#43
I just hope Pearl is hired in the SEC so we can see his team once a year in TBA and say that could be us going to the NCAA tourney. Instead our discussion will still be - who is our next coach going to be or who do we play in the NIT.
 
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#44
#44
Alabama will get Pearl and beat Tennessee like a drum for years to come. We'll go out and hire another mistake and then three years later be looking for a coach again.

So what is Pearl looking for in a next job?

I asked him.

He answered this way.

"It's going to need to be somebody that has the vision that Tennessee had," Pearl said. "Tennessee had a vision to try to get its men's basketball program to the level of its football program and where Pat Summitt had the women's basketball program. That was Tennessee's vision. They said, 'We're winning in everything else. We want to do it in men's basketball, too.' So that would be the job I'd want -- a job where somebody has that vision. It would almost need to be a school that's won a national championship in football or baseball. Somebody who's done it and wants to try to do it again in men's basketball. And I'm not saying I can win a national championship. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it would need to be somebody who wants to try to do those things. Let's upgrade the facilities and schedule [national opponents] and engage the fans and be relevant. Just be relevant. That's what we did at Tennessee. I wanted Tennessee to matter to Kentucky fans. I wanted Tennessee to be a game Kentucky fans circled. We did that. And that's the kind of thing I would like to try to do again."
 
#45
#45
38401 said:
I just hope Pearl is hired in the SEC so we can see his team once a year in TBA and say that could be us going to the NCAA tourney. Instead our discussion will still be - who is our next coach going to be or who do we play in the NIT.
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So you hope another SEC team does well and that we suck?

Some of you seriously need to get a grip.
 
#46
#46
Volfan2012 said:
Alabama will get Pearl and beat Tennessee like a drum for years to come. We'll go out and hire another mistake and then three years later be looking for a coach again.

So what is Pearl looking for in a next job?

I asked him.

He answered this way.

"It's going to need to be somebody that has the vision that Tennessee had," Pearl said. "Tennessee had a vision to try to get its men's basketball program to the level of its football program and where Pat Summitt had the women's basketball program. That was Tennessee's vision. They said, 'We're winning in everything else. We want to do it in men's basketball, too.' So that would be the job I'd want -- a job where somebody has that vision. It would almost need to be a school that's won a national championship in football or baseball. Somebody who's done it and wants to try to do it again in men's basketball. And I'm not saying I can win a national championship. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it would need to be somebody who wants to try to do those things. Let's upgrade the facilities and schedule [national opponents] and engage the fans and be relevant. Just be relevant. That's what we did at Tennessee. I wanted Tennessee to matter to Kentucky fans. I wanted Tennessee to be a game Kentucky fans circled. We did that. And that's the kind of thing I would like to try to do again."
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We did? Pearl was owned by Kentucky.
 
#47
#47
VolsSportsFan said:
So you hope another SEC team does well and that we suck?

Some of you seriously need to get a grip.
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They've descended so far into lunacy that I don't think they can be helped. The good news is that this board is by far the funniest on VN.
 
#49
#49
Idiocy is not bringing Pearl back. Idiocy is sticking with a losing coach too long. Idiocy is not changing coaching strategy and technique when change is needed. Idiocy is making up unfounded excuses to not bring Bruce back. Idiocy is having to play against Pearl when he ends up coaching another SEC team.

Pearl at LSU or Alabama would be deadly.

Bring Pearl back and become a feared program again instead of the lassitudinous basketball cunundrum we are now.
 
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#50
#50
BigZiti09 said:
Read it again.
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I did read it.

I don't think it was a game UK necessarily "circled", because in the end the results weren't much different as far as the series. If UK fans looked forward to it, it was mostly because they hated Pearl and not because they feared UT in any way.
 
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