Rick Barnes discussion (merged)

I'd take Mears and Pearl over him. I can't really see how anyone wouldn't. But that's me.
Pearl dropped a big dookie right in the middle of the Tennessee fan base. Had he had a little more integrity, maybe he might have earned that opportunity to be the best. Of his own accord, he chose to mess it up and put the program somewhere in between hell and purgatory. I don’t see how anyone in their right mind could even begin to claim Pearl as one of the top 2 coaches in Tennessee history. Amusing.
 
Pearl dropped a big dookie right in the middle of the Tennessee fan base. Had he had a little more integrity, maybe he might have earned that opportunity to be the best. Of his own accord, he chose to mess it up and put the program somewhere in between hell and purgatory. I don’t see how anyone in their right mind could even begin to claim Pearl as one of the top 2 coaches in Tennessee history. Amusing.

The day Bruce Pearl was fired, he had the support of 95 percent of the fan base, Mike Hamilton bombed the program. But he proved on the court why he's top 2 here.
 
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Pearl wasn't in decline. His last season was chaos due to his stupid lie to the NCAA and the Tennessee ADs terrible handling of the whole thing. We were 28-9 and in the Elite 8 the year prior. Literally he was less than 12 months from the best season in school history when he was fired.

Absolutely it was falling apart. That’s what happens with smoke and mirrors and lying and cheating.
 
The day Bruce Pearl was fired, he had the support of 95 percent of the fan base, Mike Hamilton bombed the program. But he proved on the court why he's top 2 here.
Bruce Pearl openly admitted fault for all that happened. Continue to blame others to validate your absurd opinion. Hamilton acted on behalf of those who run the show.
 
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Pearl dropped a big dookie right in the middle of the Tennessee fan base. Had he had a little more integrity, maybe he might have earned that opportunity to be the best. Of his own accord, he chose to mess it up and put the program somewhere in between hell and purgatory. I don’t see how anyone in their right mind could even begin to claim Pearl as one of the top 2 coaches in Tennessee history. Amusing.

Pearl’s on court results here warrant him being one of the top 3 coaches in the program’s history imo. I get that sentiment. What I don’t get is the love and longing so many seem to still feel for him. I mean, I don’t hate him and I do appreciate the fun seasons we had with him as coach, but like you alluded to, the guy dropped a big mud monkey on the program’s face. He left the program in worse shape than he found it.
 
The day Bruce Pearl was fired, he had the support of 95 percent of the fan base, Mike Hamilton bombed the program. But he proved on the court why he's top 2 here.

Mike Hamilton was a lot of things but he didn’t bomb the basketball program.

Pearl’s own actions is what made the situation worse than it needed to be.
 
The day Bruce Pearl was fired, he had the support of 95 percent of the fan base, Mike Hamilton bombed the program. But he proved on the court why he's top 2 here.

As inept as Mike Hamilton was, he probably did what he had to do as evidenced by Pearl’s 3 year show cause. The NCAA would have loved to have made an example not just out of Pearl, but also out of Tennessee. You may not like it or want to accept it, but Bruce Pearl has no one but himself to blame for losing his job here.
 
Pearl’s on court results here warrant him being one of the top 3 coaches in the program’s history imo. I get that sentiment. What I don’t get is the love and longing so many seem to still feel for him. I mean, I don’t hate him and I do appreciate the fun seasons we had with him as coach, but like you alluded to, the guy dropped a big mud monkey on the program’s face. He left the program in worse shape than he found it.
Don’t get me wrong. Pearl was a terrific CEO, recruiter, and in-game coach. I won’t give him a top anything ranking because he did what he did setting the program back 6-7 years. I loved Pearl at the time, and had a fair amount of personal interaction with him. I just hate the end result.
 
Absolutely it was falling apart. That’s what happens with smoke and mirrors and lying and cheating.
Bruce reminds me of the snake oil salesman and his product. Had everyone believe he had the major cure for every ailment known to man, and we bought the stuff at an inflated price to find out years down the road it was glorified kerosene with some food coloring in it. Was great at the time, but was slowly poisoning the system over time. Way it was heading with all the shenanigans Bruce was attempting to blame others with. A poison slowly killing the basketball program if discovered too late.
 
Don’t get me wrong. Pearl was a terrific CEO, recruiter, and in-game coach. I won’t give him a top anything ranking because he did what he did setting the program back 6-7 years. I loved Pearl at the time, and had a fair amount of personal interaction with him. I just hate the end result.

Exactly.

I was a huge fan of his during his time here.

After all that happened, Bruce shown his true colors.

Some of us saw it and others to this very day still refuses to see it.
 
We always have regular season success under Barnes. What the hell does any of that matter when we always lose first/second game of NCAA tournament? Bama and Kansas are overrated and we played Texas shortly after they lost their HC. You need to also talk about losing to horrible Auburn, Colorado, UF, Vanderbilt, etc

Your facts are off. Beard was suspended on December 12, and we played Texas in late January. Kansas and Bama are overrated? Is this what our fans have come to? Silliness.

It’s also ironic you post about his coaching during a tournament that we won last year. Just comical.
 
No, I don't. But it's ridiculous to make the claim that championships don't matter. I swear some people are so sensitive about Barnes that they think anything critical about his job performance is rampaging hate. Barnes is the third best coach we've ever had. Barnes is notorious for losing during the time when coaching legends are made. Both are true.

The opposite is very true too. People spin the truth and dismiss great achievements to criticize him.
 
As inept as Mike Hamilton was, he probably did what he had to do as evidenced by Pearl’s 3 year show cause. The NCAA would have loved to have made an example not just out of Pearl, but also out of Tennessee. You may not like it or want to accept it, but Bruce Pearl has no one but himself to blame for losing his job here.
His three year show cause is, was and always will be a complete travesty. I've said this plenty but look at Frank Haith and his 8 game suspension. His transgressions were magnitudes worse than Pearl's.
 
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Absolutely it was falling apart. That’s what happens with smoke and mirrors and lying and cheating.

Horse puckey. Less than a year removed from the best season in school history, and recruiting was humming. He left 6 top 100 recruits on the roster. His own fault for lying. Hamilton screwed up by not standing up to the NCAA the same way others do for their coaches.
 
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Horse puckey. Less than a year removed from the best season in school history, and recruiting was humming. He left 6 top 100 recruits on the roster. His own fault for lying. Hamilton screwed up by not standing up to the NCAA the same way others do for their coaches.

I would bet that he lied to his own administration. I don’t know if it was ever substantiated. But there aren’t many employees who can lie to their employer over a serious issue and keep their jobs. That’s what I ultimately believe happened. Not going to comment more because this topic has been discussed literally a million times.
 
Horse puckey. Less than a year removed from the best season in school history, and recruiting was humming. He left 6 top 100 recruits on the roster. His own fault for lying. Hamilton screwed up by not standing up to the NCAA the same way others do for their coaches.

Others don’t lie to their employer like Bruce did. The program went into a nosedive. He wasn’t going to pull out of it unless UT was to sell its soul.

The year before Bruce got himself fired, TN lost to KY by 29 in the SECT and BARELY beat San Diego State in the first round of that NCAAT. Then they lucked out while Ohio beat #3 Georgetown. The EE was a lot of luck - nothing dominating about it.
 
Horse puckey. Less than a year removed from the best season in school history, and recruiting was humming. He left 6 top 100 recruits on the roster. His own fault for lying. Hamilton screwed up by not standing up to the NCAA the same way others do for their coaches.

Examples of this “stand up to the NCAA” that aren’t blue bloods? LSU ultimately fired Will Wade. Arizona fired Sean Miller. Standing up to the NCAA is usually a temporary measure that puts the program at risk of more severe punishment.

Feel free to continue worshiping Pearl at the altar, but his fate here was sealed when he lied to the NCAA like it or not. That’s on him. Nobody else.
 
Horse puckey. Less than a year removed from the best season in school history, and recruiting was humming. He left 6 top 100 recruits on the roster. His own fault for lying. Hamilton screwed up by not standing up to the NCAA the same way others do for their coaches.

This is the same argument that every Bruce Pearl fan says and it’s simply not true.

Hamilton didn’t screw up the program.

Pearl did. Had Pearl cooperated with the NCAA and the administration, I’m sure they would have took up for him.
 
This is the same argument that every Bruce Pearl fan says and it’s simply not true.

Hamilton didn’t screw up the program.

Pearl did. Had Pearl cooperated with the NCAA and the administration, I’m sure they would have took up for him.
I’ve heard that while the admin knew what the meeting was with the NCAA, they didn’t advise Pearl and let Him be blindsided.
 
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