How Is The Bruce Pearl Situation Affecting The Kentucky Wildcats And The Rest Of The SEC?

Anyone who knows me, or has read anything I ever wrote, knows where I came down on the issue of Bruce Pearl and his waning candidacy for sainthood in Tennessee, which came to a grinding halt last year on my birthday, June 14. That is the day he lied to the NCAA about hosting a BBQ at his home for some recruits.

Now, I am no one to be touting the superiority of the NCAA to the coaches that are under it’s banner, because as far as I am concerned, they need to have their heads removed from their collective backsides. So no, this is not about how Bruce Pearl should be fired for lying to the NCAA. The lying is simply the spark that lit the flame. But what does concern me is that the circumstances surrounding the University of Tennessee and their handling of the situation are making for one of the biggest debacles in a very long time for that program, and thus reflecting badly once again on the SEC.

You do not care about Tennessee you say? Well, you should, at least in this context. Tennessee is just adding to the already reckless reputation that the SEC has as far as the NCAA is concerned, and this just gives them more fuel for the fire.

I was not calling for Pearl’s dismissal originally, because frankly, I thought that Pearl would roll up his sleeves and go to work. He knew he had damaged both his and the school’s reputation, and that it would take a lot of bending over backwards to restore that image. Yes, he lied, and yes, he has to pay the piper for that action. But it is the University that holds the blame for this continuing to hang over the program’s (and players’) heads. Mike Slive decided that an 8 game suspension (only for games in the SEC, and only for just the games themselves), was the best way to handle that. So in a sense, he is culpable too. And now it is beginning to have an effect on Tennessee and their ability to compete. After a fairly impressive start to the season and some very good wins over some quality teams, the wheels have fallen off of UT’s little orange wagon. Losses to some seriously mediocre teams in the last few weeks, combined with an SEC East that is always going to make a coach wish they had somewhere to run and hide on bad days, and Tennessee finds themselves scraping the bottom of the barrel. Good for the Vols, you say? No, and it really is not good for the Cats either. And to be honest, Pearl is not living up to his end of the bargain in his own right. He could have done extra PR work to try and polish things up. He could have just manned up and said, “I was trying to protect my program and it’s recruits, and I lied. I should never have done it, but I lied and I will do everything I can in my power to try and in some small way, make up for that”. He could have taken out an ad in the paper, put up an apology on the school’s website, he could have walked out onto the court at halftime of a game and apologized, but he chose none of that. He chose to do an interview that was broadcast nationwide, and still did not admit that he lied when asked point blank.

In a year where the Cats are going to have 4-6 losses going into the NCAA Tournament. We need quality wins over quality opponents. We need Tennessee to be strong, and highly ranked in RPI, so that wins over that squad (assuming we get them) count towards our S.O.S. being much higher. Tennessee is in effect dragging the level of competition down in the SEC, at a time when we do not need it drawn down any further.

At most any other school, Pearl would have been long gone, and they would have moved on with another quality coach. That may have lead to a rough year, but then Tennessee could have moved on and put this behind them. However, by not making a decision concerning Pearl’s long term employment, they could still be facing the wrong end of the barrel of a gun, when they get done with their case being looked at by the NCAA, and thus adding even more problems along the way. By their course of action, Tennessee is making life harder on the rest of us, even though they may be making our schedule easier.

I am not taking the moral high ground here. Pearl did what he did, and that’s that. A lot of coaches violate NCAA rules as well, and it just makes everyone look that much worse. But the path that Tennessee and the SEC have chosen is now taking it’s toll on that team, it’s players, and I believe even their coach. Pearl has to live with himself and what he did, that in and of itself is true. But Tennessee is compounding an already bad situation by it’s handling, or the lack thereof, in Pearl’s case. Did they do him a favor by not firing him? And now, the program may be facing even more possible NCAA violations due to just out and out stupidity on someones part.

Tennessee may have done more damage to their program by trying to do what they felt was in their best interests than Pearl ever did by lying to the NCAA. The SEC needs a strong and winning Tennessee program, and for every other game than the ones we play them, so does Kentucky. We have a tendency to complain around here when things do not go to suit us. That is the nature of being a very vocal fan base. Someone at Tennessee needs to stand up and say some very loud words to the administration concerning what has become a runaway train in Knoxville.

Mike Slive threw half a punishment at Pearl, and he took it gladly. The NCAA has yet to rule, and they could make it one very ugly scene in Knoxville. And truthfully they should. The Vols have a lot to answer for, and a big part of it starts with Bruce Pearl.

The fact that Pearl still remains at Tennessee makes me wonder if Lane Kiffin would still be at the helm of their Football program, had he not gotten out of town while the getting was good. Pearl needs to recognize his failures and step down now while he still can.

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