Who likes/dislikes Bruce Pearl??

Question

I think he showed alot of respect for his university by not even considering taking another job. Around the state of Tennessee he is obviously very well liked, but around the SEC alot of coaches have expressed their dislike for him. WHY????

Z - Tennessee is in the SEC, not the Big 12. Yes loyalty, when he turned down Iowa and pretty much has said Kentucky ought not even waste their time with offering him anything. Iowa and Kentucky are both rich in basketball history and both are great progams.
He left UWM b/c he was offered a job at a more prolific school with more pub than an horizon league school. I know he was offered more money also. He was moving on to bigger and better things at Tennessee as opposed to UWM. When he could have an oppurtunity to go to Iowa or Kentucky over Tennessee and he tells those schools "no thanks," then I consider it being loyal to your players, assistants, faculty, and fans.

He also has great relationships with Summitt and Fulmer.

Kevin Stallings (Vanderbilt) and Dave Odom (South Carolina) both publicly let it be known they didn't like him.

miamiski..... he brought in Ramar Smith who was a Top 3 PG in the country and some people had him rated as the #1 PG in the country coming out of Detroit, Mich. Pearl took him from UCONN.

Answer 1

I like him. I think it was awesome what he did for the lady Vol's team. He is a supportive coach and has guts. I respect him that he didn't even think about switching teams.

Answer 2

First off, he is a hell of a coach, around the SEC they might feel a bit scared because the man is a hell of a recruiter and now they will have to compete with him for the top players. Secondly he is a great saleman of his team and program. He will do things to drum up support that the others would be too conservative to do. What other coaches have expressed their dislike for him publicly? And for that writer who stated that he showed no loyalty by leaving UWM...It was a no brainer! If your current job was paying you 130K and UT wanted to pay you 1.8mill, you would go to UT also. Better conf, facilities, larger recruting base, and a chance to win a Natl. title, he would be a fool not to go the way these coaches are being fired now. There are currently about 25 div1 job openings, and UWM would as soon as fire him once he had a couple of sub par seasons..where would the loyalty to him be then even if he had a 100% graduation rate!

Answer 3

Joey,...

First things first,.. Bruce Pearl is not exactly the most loyal coach in the world,...

I am from wisconsin,. and used to attend the UNiversity of Wisconsin Milwaukee,... UWM,.. Pantherss.. ring a bell?

If not,. you should recall that its a horizon team that went to the NCAA tourny 3 out of Pearls last 4 years there...

with an incredible trip to the sweet 16 one year, that may have resulted in another win if not for very poor officiating...

Pearl went to Tennessee becuase they threw a boat load of cash at him,.. thus his loyalty to UWM ended after he was noticed enough to quit for a better job.

So with that out of the way,.. why do coaches in teh NCAA not like him that much?

Proabbly a vareity of reasons...

1. Blue coller work ethic... intense... pushes his kids... demands more from them,.... this ins't always an attitude smiled upon...

2. He didn't make it as a player, so theres always that stigma that surrounds the guy,.. and its something that some other coaches may thumb there noses at

3. He's fiery,... and he'll get in your face and argue (ref's and other coaches) and this can be intimidating...

4. He plays a different kind of basketball... He presses,.. almost the entire game,.. he wears down big teams with an aggresive defense and good shooting... basically,. nothing flashy,. just good old fashion hard work ethic and spirit... this can tick people off who want to have a superstar focus on tehre team, or feed the ball to a big guy to dunk it all game. Pearl isn't for the showmanship,. he's about teamwork and hussle.

You put all these things togethor, combined with the fact he takes over a terrible Tennessee program, and takes it to the sweet 16 in his first year,.. its intimidating, among other things for the rest of the Big 12. The pressure is now on them to deliver even more.

Bruce Pearl is an alright guy, and I hoep he does well in Tennessee. The rest of the Big 12 can eat it, its a combo of jelousy and stupidity,..

stil though,.. a little miffed he left UWM, but thats life in sports

Answer 4

I like Bruce Pearl and think he is a good coach. I wasn't aware that the SEC coaches didn't like him. But trust me, money talks and BS walks and if enough money came along he would leave Tenn. in a New York minute. He's done it before. People have to remember that coaching is a business. I'm curious to know what SEC coaches don't like him. I've never read or heard any of them say anything bad about him.

Answer 5

He supports the WHOLE program.

When was the last time Billy Donovan (who I DO like) went to a lady gators game? etc..

Pearl is pretty fiery too, he gets a little carried away, and MAN can he sweat through a suit. I'm guessing the other coaches are tired of getting drenched...

anwyay I like Pearl, and what he's done for the UT Mens bball program.

Answer 6

ok, let me clear this "Z" guy up on a few things. tennessee plays in the SEC, not the big 12. he took them to the sweet sixteen in his 2nd year, not his 1st (last year they lost in the second round)...........and you can only be loyal to a mid major school for so long. would you stay at UW-Milwakuee if you got offers from big schools every year?? the answer is no, no matter who you are. you would be crazy to do so.

my brother hates Pearl because he is a loud mouth and thinks he still hasnt accomplished anything.

i graduated from UT and will tell you that Pearl is a master marketer of the program. He is all over the place getting the fans involved. he comes to the gates sometimes while students are in line and jumps up and down yelling and getting them into it. He seems to be a good recruiter with the freshman class he brought in this year. No doubt he is a great coach on the floor the way he uses pressure defense and transition basketball to give his team a chance to win even when they are overmatched with talent on the other side.

I think the last thing he needs to do to convince me he is an awesome coach is bring a top 10 recruit to knoxville. or at least a top 5 at there position. i think we are in the running for somebody close to this for next year. when he steals a big time recruit from UNC or Kentucky, then i will be totally sold on Pearl doing great things at UT.

I dont think he is totally opposed to leaving UT if the right job comes up. But who knows, he always talks about the history of the UT program and how that school deserves a good men's basketball team. If you think about it, UT is top notch when it comes to college sports as a whole (football program is one of the best in the SEC and nationally, probably the best women's bball program, win national championship almost every year in track and field, they are always near the top in other sports such as baseball, women's soccer, and other non-popular sports). if you pair this with UT's tradition in paying coaches well in order to keep them around (fulmer and summit) i dont think he will be going anywhere for a while. they have a huge arena and the fan base is growing and growing.

the reason people dont like him is just his style. he is loud, cocky, and relentless sometimes. also, him still being at a mid major school so late in his career develops a lack of respect from other coaches and fans.

i hope he is there for a long time and UT becomes a top program nationally. time will tell. he has proved he can coach, no he needs to bring in elite recruits. if he can do that, i see no reason why they cant have a special program in knoxville!

ADDITIONAL: i know they stole smith from uconn, but he played shooting guard (not PG) in high school and was forced to play PG this year, which he wasnt comfortable with at first, but i think he did a great job at it. yes he was ranked 20 overall, and 5th at his position.....trust me that no one had him ranked first. but he still wasnt in the elite class that i am talking about, such as durant, oden, brandon wright, mike conley, ty lawson. could you argue that he is as good as any of those guys? im talking about a top notch, unbelievable talent. chism was ranked 33rd overall, crews 26 overall, and smith 20 overall. a very nice class, but none of them are an "elite" top 5 recruit. so lets see if pearl can step it up a bit and bring in a real dominant stud. but as long as he gets another solid class next year (mainly a good center and a couple athletic small forwards) i think they will be a real force to deal with this coming year!

go vols!

oh, but all the five star recruits for this year have signed with someone already, and tennessee didnt get any. we are in the running for one guy in the top 50, which is a center that we need desperately, but this year will not be the year he brings in a top notch, elite prospect. i still think they will be a great team next year, but hopefully he can start attracting some big names to knoxville that the entire country will know who they are.

Answer 7

Their just jealous that he gets a lot of attention from the media.