why coach pearl will stay at TN

[hatvol96]

Hey man, no problem - you seem to know your stuff when it comes to college basketball. I'm just glad that there are more basketball posts being made now. I know that I'm in the minority, but while I really like college football, I prefer college basketball over college football. There's nothing like March Madness!!

I feel the same way.

 

[WA_Vol]

If Pearl keeps having the success he had last year at UT its going to be hard to keep him out of the ranks of the NBA or keep other Universities from going after him.

He's been very impressive in back to back seasons at the college level.

 

[volley]

Would anyone mind filling me in on this 'incident' that has been referred to several times in this thread?

 

[OWB]

Tennessee keeps playing like they did tonight and Pearl won't be on anyone's radar anyway.

I know some of these guys are young, but I expect them to at least try to run the offense..

 

[cotton]

I'd say you're right. I was probably a little harsh in my critique of your earlier post.

Hat, are you getting mellow in your old age?

 

[volhoopsfan001]

Would anyone mind filling me in on this 'incident' that has been referred to several times in this thread?

Without trying to put it into words myself, this comes from Bruce Pearl's Wikipedia page at Bruce Pearl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .

The Deon Thomas incident
During the 1988-1989 basketball season, Pearl, then an assistant coach at the University of Iowa, was at the center of a recruiting scandal involving the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Both Illinois and Iowa were recruiting Deon Thomas, a top high school player from Chicago. Pearl recorded a phone conversation with Thomas without Thomas' knowledge. In the conversation, Thomas said he had been offered an SUV and cash by Illinois assistant coach Jimmy Collins. Pearl then turned over the tapes to the NCAA, accompanied by a memo describing the events.

When the NCAA investigated the alleged violations, Thomas said the story was false. Ultimately, the NCAA dropped their investigation into Thomas' recruitment, and Illinois was never sanctioned by the NCAA over the matter. Deon Thomas played for the Illini for 4 years.

However, other improprieties were uncovered during the NCAA's investigation, and the NCAA charged Illinois with a major infraction on November 7, 1990. Since it was Illinois' third major violation in six years, the NCAA cited the university with a "lack of institutional control" charge and implemented a one-year postseason ban and two years of scholarship reductions.

Because of his actions, Pearl is reviled by many Illinois basketball fans. When Pearl and Collins were both head coaches for four years in the Horizon League, the two men never engaged in the traditional postgame handshake due to bad feelings over the incident.

Many people feel like, despite Coach Pearl's success, this incident had him "black-listed" from getting a head coaching job in a major D-1 conference. In Pearl's last season at UWM (2004-05), his team faced Illiniois in the NCAA tourney and the incident was brought up again. Illinois fans still hate Coach Pearl, and will never forgive or forget.