Posts tagged BrucePearl at FanHouse

An odd rumor bouncing around the past week had Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl in play for the future Wizards vacancy. Nothing was ever solid -- the only real connection seems to be Washington GM Ernie Grunfeld's Volunteer history and a smattering of talk that Pearl was considered a year ago as Eddie Jordan's tenure became more tenuous.

The rumor was news to Pearl on Wednesday, and the coach dismissed the idea he was a candidate. Today, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports Pearl isn't a serious option, as the Wizards will be looking for a bigger name with pro experience.

Washington is quietly confident that it will have no shortage of good applicants when it decides it's time to choose a permanent successor to Eddie Jordan, with the Wiz believing, among other things, that the attractiveness of the job and the city where they play has only been enhanced by Barack Obama's forthcoming installment as the nation's 44th president.

Obama as an incentive to take the D.C. job seems odd, and misplaced. Regardless, the job is attractive. The Wizards are no longer a league-wide punchline, and the roster has more strengths than a lot of other teams. To me, a defensive-minded coach makes sense: a team with a remotely free Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison will score a-plenty. Even last year, with Brenden Haywood playing awesome and Antonio Daniels starting, the team's defense was mediocre. The team needs new eyes on that end, and perhaps a half-court style that allows the efficient D.C. assault to dominate.

An odd rumor bouncing around the past week had Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl in play for the future Wizards vacancy. Nothing was ever solid -- the only real connection seems to be Washington GM Ernie Grunfeld's Volunteer history and a smattering of talk that Pearl was considered a year ago as Eddie Jordan's tenure became more tenuous.

The rumor was news to Pearl on Wednesday, and the coach dismissed the idea he was a candidate. Today, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports Pearl isn't a serious option, as the Wizards will be looking for a bigger name with pro experience.

Washington is quietly confident that it will have no shortage of good applicants when it decides it's time to choose a permanent successor to Eddie Jordan, with the Wiz believing, among other things, that the attractiveness of the job and the city where they play has only been enhanced by Barack Obama's forthcoming installment as the nation's 44th president.

Obama as an incentive to take the D.C. job seems odd, and misplaced. Regardless, the job is attractive. The Wizards are no longer a league-wide punchline, and the roster has more strengths than a lot of other teams. To me, a defensive-minded coach makes sense: a team with a remotely free Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison will score a-plenty. Even last year, with Brenden Haywood playing awesome and Antonio Daniels starting, the team's defense was mediocre. The team needs new eyes on that end, and perhaps a half-court style that allows the efficient D.C. assault to dominate.

This week, FanHouse is taking an early look at the top teams heading into 2008 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. To help with the team capsules, we've brought in some of the top fan bloggers around the internets to give us insights on their teams.

Today, we have enlisted RBK of the BruceBall Blog to break down the Tennessee Volunteers.

The Tennessee Vols are coming off of back-to-back Sweet Sixteen appearances under Coach Bruce Pearl, and last season's 31 wins were tops in the program's history. Tennessee fans were disappointed in the finish, hoping that the 2007-2008 Volunteers would be the first ever to break through to the Elite Eight. It was not meant to be, and this year's Vols appear to be in somewhat of a transition mode after the loss of three senior guards including the SEC's all-time three-point shot leader, Chris Lofton.

Tiki Barber is living the classic case of "soldsoul" right now. Not to imply that he actually offered Beelzebub any money for said soul, but if you look at what's happened -- Giants, this thing called the Super Bowl -- since he became a famous white-toothed professional broadcast machine, its hard not to think it's possible.

And watching him reach a little deeper into the pit of degradation while getting manhandled by Tamron Hall, well, yeah ... fame is fleeting Teeks. Dignity, it's supposed to last forever.

Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports is reporting that Indiana is wasting no time in its coaching search, calling Washington State coach Tony Bennett the day after his Cougars were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament and telling him the job is his if he wants it.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Bennett is expected to leave Washington State, and that he's also one of the top choices of the administration at Cal.

According to Goodman, Bennett is atop a list at Indiana that includes Xavier's Sean Miller, Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon and Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings. Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl's name has also been mentioned in connection with the Indiana job.

Kelvin Sampson took a contract buyout during the season after the NCAA said he violated recruiting rules. Dan Dakich, who took over as interim head coach, has said he wants the job on a permanent basis but is apparently not seen by the Indiana administration as a strong candidate.

The question is whether any strong candidates will want the job. When Sampson was hired Indiana was seen as one of the most attractive jobs in the country, but with likely NCAA sanctions, does it make sense for a coach like Bennett, who has a good thing going at Washington State, to leave?

If he does, the financial compensation will likely be substantial. Although Bennett has the job security of a seven-year contract at Washington State, his $800,000 salary is paltry compared to what Indiana will be willing to pay if it thinks Bennett can deliver national championships on the court and compliance with NCAA rules off it.

UPDATE: Tony Bennett Denies Getting Indiana Offer

College basketball coaches are a weird bunch. They are control freaks who are media savvy and live in an isolated world of hoopdom. But what if they weren't coaching? What would they do? Who would they be?

The blog CatsandBeer.com attempts to figure that out to hilarious results:

• Bo Ryan, Wisconsin: Evangelist
• Bob Huggins, West Virginia: No Frills Hired Muscle
• Darrin Horn, Western Kentucky: Guidance Counselor
• Roy Williams, North Carolina: Fried Chicken Restaurateur
• Bruce Pearl, Tennessee: Angry TV pitchman
• Ben Howland, UCLA: Landlord
• Tom Izzo, Michigan State: The Chief
• Bill Self, Kansas: Wisecracking plumber
• John Calipari, Memphis: Electrical Engineer
• Rick Barnes, Texas: Struggling farmer
• Jay Wright, Villanova: Man about town
• Bob McKillop, Davidson: Everybody's grandpa
• Sean Miller, Xavier: Man who'd say "bubbie"
• Tony Bennett, Washington State: Excited Mormon
• Trent Johnson, Stanford: The Tree
• Rick Pitino, Louisville: Wiseguy/Scott Baio body double

The Bruce Pearl -to- Indiana rumors are officially on.

Over the weekend, Inside the Hall reported that the rumors that Indiana wants to talk to Pearl, the Tennessee coach, were swirling at the NCAA Tournament East Region games in Birmingham, Alabama. And today those rumors hit the big time when they were the subject of a discussion on Pardon the Interruption.

So what to make of the rumors? Obviously, Indiana would love to have a coach as accomplished as Pearl to build the program back up after what is expected to be a low point when the NCAA hands down sanctions for former coach Kelvin Sampson's recruiting violations. But would Pearl really leave?

He would at least consider it -- Indiana is too storied a program, and Pearl has too many ties to the Big Ten and the state of Indiana, not to consider it. But my best guess is that Tennessee will offer him a raise to stay, and that's what he'll do. Pearl has a good thing going in Tennessee, and the situation at Indiana is anything but a good thing right now.

Usually when your team wins 31 games, spends time as the top-ranked team in the country and makes the Sweet 16, you've got a pretty reliable hand on the tiller. The Tennessee Volunteers, then, are quite an unusual team. They accomplished all of that without a steady point guard.

Ramar Smith started most of the second half but steadily diminishing returns put him on the bench for the tournament opener. Senior Jordan Howell returned to the starting five but failed to make an impression which led Bruce Pearl to turn to J.P. Prince for yesterday's win over Butler. That was unusual because Prince spent most of the year as a shooting guard but Pearl had his reasons.

"J.P. is a stat sheet stuffer. We got a situation where I felt like we needed (Prince) on the floor more because he makes great things happen. I think he makes everyone else out there better."

He did stuff the stat sheet (nine points, seven boards, five assists) but his negatives nearly outweighed his positives. His travel (and sixth turnover) with seconds to play could have cost the Vols the game. Smith came back to score four in overtime and further muddy the picture at the one.

The uncertainty at the point highlights how good a job Pearl has done with this team. Better known for his personality than his tactics, Pearl's managed to turn a team without a key component into a huge winner this season. Now he must make the right choice about who to send into the teeth of the Louisville press.

In case you haven't seen it by now, Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl grabbed ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews during a halftime interview last month:

That has become one of the most-discussed incidents of the college basketball season, and in an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Andrews gave her thoughts about it:

He gave me a big bear hug. I wasn't surprised at all because he's very passionate. But right when it happened, you could see the reaction on my face: Oh, God, this is going to be all over the place.

He texted me and said: "Thanks for doing the game. Great working with you.'' I said: "Absolutely'' and mentioned: "You know this is gonna get a ton of play on the Internet, don't you?'' He's like: "Oh, yeah.'' He gets it.

Via Sports by Brooks.

At halftime of last night's Tennessee victory over Memphis, Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl got a little too handsy with ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews:

Andrews asked Pearl, "Coach, what has Memphis done to Chris Lofton in the first half?"

Pearl responded, "Hold him. Drape him like this." At that point, Pearl proceeded to put Andrews in a bear hug, and a shocked Andrews said, "OK."

But she did manage to overcome her shock and ask him another question before concluding the interview.
Sorry, No Photos