BurninOrange
All about dem Vols!
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NCAAM Bruce Pearl returns to Knoxville - ESPN
Bruce Pearl returns to Knoxville
Chris Low [ARCHIVE]
ESPN.com | January 30, 2015
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Bruce Pearl elevated Tennessee basketball to unprecedented heights during his six electrifying seasons as the Vols' pied piper of hoops.
As shrewd a showman as he was a coach, Pearl went to the NCAA tournament every year, including three Sweet 16 trips and the school's first-ever Elite Eight appearance, and even took the Vols to a No. 1 ranking in the polls for a week during the 2007-08 season.
But just like that, he was gone, fired after lying to NCAA investigators about a cookout at his home that was attended by recruits and subsequently shackled with a three-year show-cause penalty.
Bruce Pearl wants to make something clear: Auburn is his home now.
Tennessee fans were distraught, and many of them are still bitter to this day, that something so good could end so badly, especially when Pearl's transgressions didn't involve either one of the NCAA's supposed no-no's -- money changing hands or academic fraud.
In what's sure to be a surreal setting, it all comes full circle on Saturday when Pearl returns to Thompson-Boling Arena on the "other" bench to lead his Auburn team against Tennessee (noon ET, ESPN2 & WatchESPN.com).
He's not sure what kind of reception he'll receive, but insists the good memories for him far outweigh the bad.
"It was a special time and a very rare run," Pearl told ESPN.com this week. "Tremendous things happened in that building for me and my family, from Chris Lofton hitting that 3-pointer from the hash mark over Kevin Durant when we beat Texas, to my children's high school graduations and college graduations, to me and [wife] Brandy hosting "An Evening in Orange" and raising $1 million for the Cancer Institute at UT Medical Center."
That fundraiser, by the way, was held a month after Pearl was fired, further proof that he left a little piece of himself on Rocky Top. In fact, he and Brandy are scheduled to help with another charity event Friday night in Knoxville to benefit children with multiple handicaps.
"Just because you leave doesn't mean you forget," Pearl said. "We still have a lot of family and friends in Knoxville, a lot of people who supported us, and we still stay in touch. But I live in Auburn now, have a home in Auburn, and Auburn is home.
"I'm an Auburn man. There's no confusion there."
...
NCAAM Bruce Pearl returns to Knoxville - ESPN
Bruce Pearl returns to Knoxville
Chris Low [ARCHIVE]
ESPN.com | January 30, 2015
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Bruce Pearl elevated Tennessee basketball to unprecedented heights during his six electrifying seasons as the Vols' pied piper of hoops.
As shrewd a showman as he was a coach, Pearl went to the NCAA tournament every year, including three Sweet 16 trips and the school's first-ever Elite Eight appearance, and even took the Vols to a No. 1 ranking in the polls for a week during the 2007-08 season.
But just like that, he was gone, fired after lying to NCAA investigators about a cookout at his home that was attended by recruits and subsequently shackled with a three-year show-cause penalty.
Bruce Pearl wants to make something clear: Auburn is his home now.
Tennessee fans were distraught, and many of them are still bitter to this day, that something so good could end so badly, especially when Pearl's transgressions didn't involve either one of the NCAA's supposed no-no's -- money changing hands or academic fraud.
In what's sure to be a surreal setting, it all comes full circle on Saturday when Pearl returns to Thompson-Boling Arena on the "other" bench to lead his Auburn team against Tennessee (noon ET, ESPN2 & WatchESPN.com).
He's not sure what kind of reception he'll receive, but insists the good memories for him far outweigh the bad.
"It was a special time and a very rare run," Pearl told ESPN.com this week. "Tremendous things happened in that building for me and my family, from Chris Lofton hitting that 3-pointer from the hash mark over Kevin Durant when we beat Texas, to my children's high school graduations and college graduations, to me and [wife] Brandy hosting "An Evening in Orange" and raising $1 million for the Cancer Institute at UT Medical Center."
That fundraiser, by the way, was held a month after Pearl was fired, further proof that he left a little piece of himself on Rocky Top. In fact, he and Brandy are scheduled to help with another charity event Friday night in Knoxville to benefit children with multiple handicaps.
"Just because you leave doesn't mean you forget," Pearl said. "We still have a lot of family and friends in Knoxville, a lot of people who supported us, and we still stay in touch. But I live in Auburn now, have a home in Auburn, and Auburn is home.
"I'm an Auburn man. There's no confusion there."
...
