Former USI and University of Tennessee head basketball coach Bruce pearl has seen better days. Pearl was handed down a three year show-cause penalty by the NCAA that starts with this upcoming season.
Pearl’s punishment is stemming from an incident back in 2008, where he hosted a party at his home for a few potential recruits. Pearl told the families of the recruits to not talk about the event because he knew it was against NCAA regulations. The NCAA found out about the incident and Pearl’s initial punishment was an eight game suspension from Southeastern Conference play last season.
The NCAA found out that Pearl’s statements about the event at his home were false and misleading, so they placed the show-cause penalty on the coach. The show-cause penalty would allow Pearl to take another coaching job if offered by another college program but he would have restrictions on recruiting and would not be allowed to have any sort of contact with potential recruits.
Pearl was offered the head coaching position in the Dallas Maverick’s organization as head coach of the Texas Legends, the team’s designated league affiliate. Pearl turned down the job and the chances of him obtaining another college coaching job were slim to none, so he left the coaching world all together.
Pearl wanted to stay close to his family, so he took a job as the vice president of marketing for the grocery store H.T. Hackney Co. in Knoxville. Pearl has a background in marketing and economics from his days at Boston College. The marketing job will be a drastic change for Pearl, who will be spending his time in an office instead of pacing the sidelines during a basketball game. “A three-year show cause puts me out of the game longer than I anticipated,” Pearl said. “That said, the realities of being a husband and being a father, you have to take care of your family.”
Pearl started coaching at USI in 1992 and led the Eagles to a 22-7 record in that first season. He coached the Eagles for nine seasons and guided them to the 1994 Division II National Championship title. He made a stop at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee before he took the University of Tennessee coaching job in 2005. He led the Volunteers to their first ever number one ranking national ranking in 2009 and to the Elite 8 in the 2010 NCAA tournament.