As an alumni of the University of Tennessee, I would like to go on record as saying that I believe we should keep Coach Bruce Pearl. Did he lie? Yes and he admitted that before the NCAA found out. Have we all made mistakes in our lives, absolutely.
So this comes down to deciding if we allow a man to make a mistake. I can guarantee you that if we let Bruce go our next coach will not be perfect. Bruce accepted and dealt with the punishment from the University and the SEC. If the NCAA comes out with additional sanctions, then they are saying that colleges and conferences are not capable of handling problems on their own. If the NCAA brings additional sanctions, then the University and the SEC should say in the future, “Why should we punish anyone, when the NCAA is going to do it.”
If the NCAA comes out with the death penalty and bans Coach Pearl from coaching for a period of time, then Mike Hamilton and the University of Tennessee should fight. Or maybe they have forgotten that the first six weeks into his first season we made more on concessions at Thompson Bowling than the whole previous year.
The University appears to be throwing in the towel and quitting. They should be defending the actions they have already taken; along with the conference. They should be fighting for not only our coach, but the good of our program moving forward. They should be pointing to the “body of work” that has occurred under Bruce Pearl’s leadership of the team and not allow the NCAA to throw all of that effort away.
Until Bruce arrived, our track record of hiring basketball coaches was pretty bleak. Do we think that all of a sudden we will be better at hiring a new head coach?
Practice forgiveness and keep Coach Bruce Pearl.
This blog is the personal opinion of the writer and is published as editorial comment.
Monday, March 21, 2011
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