-While some in the VolNation basketball forum might disagree, John Adams believes this might be Bruce Pearl’s best coaching job ever – not necessarily because of the wins and losses — but because of his leadership and the way he managed the program.
But the best part of Adams article, recaps an incident when Pearl was head coach at Southern Indiana.
To the coach’s dismay, three of his starters walked through the front door well after curfew. The next morning, a fourth starter confessed to missing curfew while acknowledging he was at least discreet enough to find a back door to the hotel.
Pearl sent all four players back to campus and suspended them for the final regular-season game, which would decide the Great Lakes Valley championship.
He remembers a longtime fan shouting at him in pregame warm-ups, “We didn’t come here to see this group play. What are you thinking?”
Pearl responded: “If you want something else, you’ve got the wrong guy.”
His outmanned team then beat Northern Kentucky for the conference championship.
-For any of you baseball fans (like myself), James Bryant follows up yesterday’s article on ($)Brian Morgado, with a story on ($)Cody Hawn. Hawn hit .364 last season and led the team in homeruns (22), RBI’s (81), and hits (77).
-Coach Dooley has finalized the coaching assignments for his assistants.
- Jim Chaney – offensive coordinator and running backs coach
- Terry Joseph – recruiting coordinator and defensive backs coach
- Charlie Baggett – assistant head coach and wide receivers coach
- Harry Hiestand – offensive line coach
- Eric Russell – tight ends coach and special teams coach
- Darin Hinshaw – quarterbacks coach
- Lance Thompson – linebackers coach
- Chuck Smith – defensive line coach
- Justin Wilcox – defensive coordinator
-Tennessee intern Steve Rubio has been linked to recruiting violations for the second time since coming to Knoxville; this time in regard to his time at Central Florida. But Mike Hamilton insists “it’s all behind him”.
-Bruce Pearl told KentuckySportsReport.com that ($)Scotty Hopson is a better player than last year. Think the Cats are concerned?
“Scotty is a better player than last year,” Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said. “He is stronger, more physical, a better defender, more aggressive getting to the rim and just playing with more confidence. I think Scotty is still making great progress. He has terrific tools and athleticism and he does work hard. I would sometimes like to see him work harder in games to get open looks.”
-Chris Low put out a tentative SEC spring practice schedule. Tennessee begins practice on March 18th and will play its spring game on April 17th.
-Rotoworld.com published their 2010 quarterback draft board and Jon Crompton ranks ahead of Tim Tebow. Crompton comes in at No. 5 on the list, while Tebow is listed at No. 7.