FanHouse Bruce Pearl

Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl has apologized for telling a joke in which he contrasted some members of his team as being from "the hood" and others from parts of Tennessee "where they wear the hood."

In an effort to talk about something college basketball-related other than scandals in the summer, let's talk best current coaches. We'll attempt to order the top 25 current coaches in the nation. This is about the present and the future, not the distant past. What a guy did in the mid-90s doesn't matter near as much as the direction his program is currently headed. Past pedigree also matters, to an extent. For the perfect mix of past accomplishments with present achievement and a paved road for future success, look no further than the man atop the list.

It took perhaps a little longer than expected but Kansas State finally landed it's new athletic director Monday.

The school introduced 38-year-old John Currie, the University of Tennessee executive associate athletic director, as the new leader of the Wildcats' athletic department to conclude its three-month search. In addition to being responsible for UT's fundraising, ticketing, public relations, media relations, marketing and broadcast and Internet initiatives, Currie also managing the coaching search in 2005 that brought Bruce Pearl to the Vols.

Lane Kiffin's wife Layla Kiffin is, to put it delicately, smoking hot. On the day Lane Kiffin was announced as Tennessee coach, "Layla Kiffin" and "Lane Kiffin's wife" took over Google, registering among the most Googled terms in America on that November day. All this attention came despite the fact that Layla was eight months pregnant with her third child at the time of the announcement. Yep, even at eight months pregnant, she sent these here Internets spinning round and round.

It also served as the first notice of how seriously SEC football fans take the sport ... and the coach's family. In almost two years with the NFL's Oakland Raiders, Layla went unnoticed. Five minutes after Lane's hiring at Tennessee, internet cables in the South were smoking white hot, it was like a new book from the Bible had been uncovered.

Unless you cheer when your boss gets a raise, growl "box out!" every time N.C. State's Derrick Whittenburg's slow arcing shot in N.C. State's mammoth 1983 upset lands in the hands of history, or still get angry wondering why Goliath's coaching staff didn't think to defend against the slingshot, then the last two years have been a rotten time for fans of the upset in college hoops.

Sure, there were a few dandies, like Virginia Commonwealth knocking off a Duke team so delicate you'd think it was made by Swarovski in 2007, Western Kentucky running to the Sweet 16 in 2008, and Davidson one-upping the Hilltoppers that same year. But for the most part, the last two tournaments have been like a comic book without the pictures.

Something has clearly been missing.

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Bruce Pearl seems like a pretty intense dude. He's willing to paint himself orange and run around Knoxville, Tenn., shirtless, for one thing. For another, he yells a lot. Well, on Thursday night against South Carolina, he was rocking a blazer-white T-shirt combo. And at one point during the first half, he ripped said blazer off. Brent Musberger noticed, too. Enjoy.

Even if you phrase it as carefully as a major leaguer testifying before Congress, ask Kansas coach Bill Self who he thinks should be the national coach of the year and you're likely to get about the same answer as if you'd just asked him to explain the economic stimulus plan.

Which is to say a whole lot of stammering and more tap dancing than Broadway's spring season.

Tennessee spent the first half of Sunday's game against Florida showing that it knew two things about the outcome of this game: The winner would be tied with South Carolina for first in the SEC East and find themselves on the right side of the bubble watch heading towards the SEC Tournament.

The second half was a different story. The Gators outscored the Vols 42-34 in the final 20 minutes, cutting the lead to three points with 54 seconds remaining. But Tennessee managed to hold on for a 79-75 win, hitting just enough free throws to stave off the Gators.

So where does this leave the SEC?

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There is a SportsCenter commercial with Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt where Kenny Mayne fires off puns that use the coach's name and team, only for Summitt to respond that she's got "this coaching thing down pat."

I concur.

Thursday night, Summitt became the first Division I coach, men's or women's, to reach 1,000 wins as her Volunteers beat up on Georgia 73-43.