Watching the game last night ...

[bnhunt]

helped to eliminate any remaining desire I had to bring Bruce Pearl back. He looked buffoonish out there turning red and sweating profusely (which the ESPN halftime guys even commented on), while CRB just calmly stood on the sideline and coached circles around Pearl. The Vols were the much better coached and more disciplined team while AUB was jacking up quick shots and not rebounding or playing D.

UT got extremely lucky to get CRB, but the Vols are in great hands IMO. Pearl would trade AUB for UT any day.

[Berry4Heisman14]

Loved Bruce when he was here. I think he was a great recruiter but a decent coach. I think Barnes is a phenomenal coach, and as we continue to win with him our recruiting will improve

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Everybody was going ape **** about his age when Barnes was hired. He was 60. Pearl will be 57 next month.

[livefaith]

AU executed it's offense horribly in the 1st half. Their discipline cost them this one. You can point to coaching. You could also make the case that the "basketball maturity / intelligence" of that roster is not the greatest.
AU is loaded with athletes already, and more on the way. But the good guys looked very well coached and well disciplined, especially early in the game. I wondered out loud to someone last night that "AU's players just don't look bball savvy".
Pearl is a hype guy that get's results and CRB is a "under the radar" guy that gets results a different way. Both are proven winners using their philosophies.

[JFreak]

That same exuberance that you're saying is tacky now brought a level of passion and excitement for UT mens bball that hadn't been seen in a long time (if ever). Thompson Boling was rocking for every game of his tenure and his personality had a lot to do with that. The fact remains that BP is a solid coach.. be careful when trying to devalue his time here. The Auburn team just doesn't seem to have the chemistry required to be successful.. not always the coach's fault.

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Originally Posted by JFreak

That same exuberance that you're saying is tacky now brought a level of passion and excitement for UT mens bball that hadn't been seen in a long time (if ever). Thompson Boling was rocking for every game of his tenure and his personality had a lot to do with that. The fact remains that BP is a solid coach.. be careful when trying to devalue his time here. The Auburn team just doesn't seem to have the chemistry required to be successful.. not always the coach's fault.

It wouldn't have hurt my feelings if Bruce had dialed it back just a smidgeon while at UT, kept his shirt on, and not been a chronic liar.

[OrangeInKy]

Originally Posted by JFreak

That same exuberance that you're saying is tacky now brought a level of passion and excitement for UT mens bball that hadn't been seen in a long time (if ever). Thompson Boling was rocking for every game of his tenure and his personality had a lot to do with that. The fact remains that BP is a solid coach.. be careful when trying to devalue his time here. The Auburn team just doesn't seem to have the chemistry required to be successful.. not always the coach's fault.

Correct. AU gave UT trouble late with the press, which was common in his early UT tenure. Jacking up 3's was the benchmark of his earl success as well, just so happened that our guys hit them, even Childress. He had Chris Lofton his first 3 years, and those guys aren't common. I agree that what we saw last night wasn't too different from what we saw at UT, but better chemistry and he had a much better staff, obviously. As for the other stuff, I always thought he was more style/antics over substance (when at UT), kinda like a certain football coach. I always thought Pearl was embarrassing at times, I just didn't care because we were having fun and winning games.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Thunder Good-Oil

It wouldn't have hurt my feelings if Bruce had dialed it back just a smidgeon while at UT, kept his shirt on, and not been a chronic liar.

To each his own. As a young student during his time here I thought it was phenomenal. Going door to door at Presidential to remind every day students there was a game the next day, pizza party outside Thompson Boling before the huge victory against FL. His sideline antics could have been a little over the top, but his kids certainly wanted to play for him. I thought the chest painting thing was an awesome way to show support for Pat and the girls. And chronic liar? Yup, he screwed up.. no doubt about that and he served his time. Chronic liar may be a step too far. He made UT Bball exciting.. much of the other complaints are simply minutiae.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by OrangeInKy

Correct. AU gave UT trouble late with the press, which was common in his early UT tenure. Jacking up 3's was the benchmark of his earl success as well, just so happened that our guys hit them, even Childress. He had Chris Lofton his first 3 years, and those guys aren't common. I agree that what we saw last night wasn't too different from what we saw at UT, but better chemistry and he had a much better staff, obviously. As for the other stuff, I always thought he was more style/antics over substance (when at UT), kinda like a certain football coach. I always thought Pearl was embarrassing at times, I just didn't care because we were having fun and winning games.

Hard to call it jacking up 3's when you have CL and Juwuan Smith in your backcourt. His teams dialed down their 3 pt shots when CL and Smith left, unfortunately his record after that reflected it. Won a few games with that press and it was awesome when it worked. I think he could have Auburn as a perennial tourney team in a few years. I personally never found him embarrassing.. would have been awesome to finally make a Final Four though!

[bnhunt]

Originally Posted by JFreak

That same exuberance that you're saying is tacky now brought a level of passion and excitement for UT mens bball that hadn't been seen in a long time (if ever). Thompson Boling was rocking for every game of his tenure and his personality had a lot to do with that. The fact remains that BP is a solid coach.. be careful when trying to devalue his time here. The Auburn team just doesn't seem to have the chemistry required to be successful.. not always the coach's fault.

Maybe it just looks sadder when his teams aren't winning as much. I would prefer CRB's coaching style any day, although I really enjoyed Pearl's tenure in Knoxville.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by bnhunt

Maybe it just looks sadder when his teams aren't winning as much. I would prefer CRB's coaching style any day, although I really enjoyed Pearl's tenure in Knoxville.

That's definitely all true. But remember that about 6 weeks ago, quite a few fans on here swore CRB was washed up and needed to be fired. Winning fixes everything.

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Originally Posted by JFreak

To each his own. As a young student during his time here I thought it was phenomenal. Going door to door at Presidential to remind every day students there was a game the next day, pizza party outside Thompson Boling before the huge victory against FL. His sideline antics could have been a little over the top, but his kids certainly wanted to play for him. I thought the chest painting thing was an awesome way to show support for Pat and the girls. And chronic liar? Yup, he screwed up.. no doubt about that and he served his time. Chronic liar may be a step too far. He made UT Bball exciting.. much of the other complaints are simply minutiae.

Shirtless was a bit much and made him look cartoonish and made TN look foolish. He could have kept his shirt on.

When he lied, lied in an attempt to cover up the lies, and even attempted to get others to lie as well... in my book that's a chronic liar.

[therealitytheory]

When we had a #1 ranking (albeit briefly) nobody thought BP was too over the top.

I'm extremely happy with the coach we have but I'll never understand why some UT fans hate on Bruce. He lied about a bbq ffs...a falsehood barely a shade worse than "no that doesn't make your butt look big."

[volboy81]

He was great here but with Barnes, I don't miss him anymore

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Originally Posted by therealitytheory

When we had a #1 ranking (albeit briefly) nobody thought BP was too over the top.

I'm extremely happy with the coach we have but I'll never understand why some UT fans hate on Bruce. He lied about a bbq ffs...a falsehood barely a shade worse than "no that doesn't make your butt look big."

He also lied about Brian Williams' failed drug test. He lied to his bosses. He tried to get a recruit to lie to cover up his lie. He also sat Maymon on the bench and played Steven ****ing Pearl instead. I'm glad he won many games, but I believe that many coaches could do the same thing at UT. TN was (and is) a great situation for a better than average coach.