Bruce Pearl is a big man on campus. It’s just after 5 p.m. on a hot early-September day, and Pearl, about to start his third season as Tennessee basketball coach, is walking back to his office from individual workouts with his players. Everyone Pearl passes on the street has a smile or a kind word. A pickup truck with construction workers in the back drives by and a couple of them give the “we’re not worthy” salute while the driver honks the horn. Members of the Tennessee baseball team take a break from running stairs and wave. Pearl flashes his trademark grin at them and yells, “Go Vols.”
Judging by the response Pearl has generated on his half-mile walk across campus, this is a man who could have a future in politics. But aspirants for the governorship of Tennessee needn’t worry—Pearl’s too smart to enter into that kind of rat race, and he’s having too much fun in his current job, as savoir of a program that, three short years ago, was an afterthought in Knoxville and a joke in the Southeastern Conference.
The speed at which Pearl took the Vols, 14-17 the season before his arrival, to a position of prominence in college basketball has been mind boggling, and has forever raised the bar in his profession. After leading Tennessee to the NCAA Tournament in his first season and to within a whisker of the Elite Eight in his second, Pearl has made it tough on his peers who inherit fixer-upper programs, for they’ll be judged by his high standards. Many won’t be able to match them.
Evidence of Pearl’s mighty influence abounds on campus. As Pearl makes the last couple of strides to his office, he waves an arm at Pratt Pavilion, a $16 million practice facility that will be used by both the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Lady Vol coach Pat Summit, only the winningest coach—male or female—in college hoops history, gives credit where credit is due when it comes to the new facility. “It took me 30 years [on the job] and Bruce two years to come in here and get that done,” she said.
Pearl also takes a visitor through Thompson-Boling Arena, which is in the middle of a $20 million facelift that will make it the envy of 99 percent of the schools in college basketball. Call it “The House that Bruce Re-Built,” and that wouldn’t be far from wrong. Tennessee athletic department officials expect the arena, which will seat almost 22,000 in its latest incarnation, to be sold out for the entire season.
Chattanooga CityScope contributing writer Chris Dortch, editor of the highly acclaimed Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, had a chance to sit down with Pearl and discuss the amazing ride that has been his first two years on the job at Tennessee.
Q. Has your success here so far surprised even you?
A. It’s easier to get it going than it is to keep it going. What we’ve done so far has really been the easy part. It’s now trying to build on it and maintain this level of competitiveness.
Questions like that are reflective in the sense that it’s so difficult for a basketball coach to reflect or look back because we’re always looking forward. For us it’s all about what we’ve done lately. It’s hard for me to even look back and talk about what we’ve done, because I only see what we plan on doing. But yes, it’s probably happened a little quicker than I anticipated.
Q. What drew you to this job? You had a good thing going at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and didn’t have to take chances moving to a program that was on the decline. You could have waited to see if something better came long.
A. This is Tennessee. One of the things that I looked at when this job came open—the fact that men’s basketball hadn’t been as successful as the other sports here in recent years—that was not a negative factor for me. In fact, that was a positive. Because I looked at everybody else, and I said if they could be in the NCAA Tournament in 19-of-20 sports here, we can get there in basketball. Because they know how to do it.
Q. Any other advantages that you saw?
A. The biggest [on-campus] arena in America. Almost every job I’ve been in has been a rebuilding situation that needed more than just a basketball coach. It needed work off the court as much as it needed work on the court. From that standpoint, I thought it was a fit.
I think the fact that there was a history of success. That our fans are young enough or old enough to have remembered Don DeVoe and Ray Mears, and a time when we first opened Thompson-Boling Arena, and when we were dominating at Stokely, a place that had attitude and atmosphere. I thought it would be easier to rekindle than it would be to create. We didn’t create anything here. We just rekindled what once was.
Q. You heard all the negative things, like Tennessee was a football school, or that women’s basketball had overshadowed the men’s program. That didn’t bother you?
A. The only thing I remember from a distance, is all the orange seats [in Thompson-Boling] when I watched games on TV. That’s what stuck out in my mind. Why weren’t people in those seats? The other thing that I remembered was the athletes. Tennessee always had athletic teams. At least in my recent memory. Those kinds of teams are teams I kind of like to coach.
Let’s face it. I wasn’t in a position to pick a perfect situation, and I didn’t want one. I’m a D-II guy nine years [as head coach at Southern Indiana, where he won the 1995 national championship]. I came from mid-major [at Division I Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which he led to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 in 2005]. Hey, a high-major opportunity. Are you kidding me?
Q. Did the situation with Illinois unfairly label you? [As an Iowa assistant coach in 1988, Pearl taped a telephone conversation with a recruit that was being recruited by the Hawkeyes and Illinois. The recruit admitted to being given illegal inducements to sign with Illinois, and Pearl turned the tape over to the NCAA. ESPN analyst Dick Vitale called the move “professional suicide”. An NCAA investigation couldn’t prove anything, but the program was cited for other violations.] Could that be the reason it took so long for a guy who had the success you did as a head coach to get a job like Tennessee?
A. It was a detour. I had to take a detour to get here. That situation obviously presented a bit of a roadblock. But it was to my benefit. In nine years in Division II [at Southern Indiana], I learned how to go from being a pretty good assistant [at Boston College, Stanford and Iowa] to a pretty good head coach. If I don’t get a chance to cut my teeth at that level, I might not make it past a low-major Division I situation to get here.
High-level Division II basketball is better than low-level Division I basketball. Because I had a high-major assistant coaching background, combined with a Division II head-coaching background, I had both worlds covered. Unlike a lot of great Division II or III coaches, I was able to have enough of both by the time I got to Wisconsin-Milwaukee [his first Division I head-coaching job], where we had some success.
Q. Were you puzzled or bitter that it took so long to land at a school like Tennessee?
A. Not at all. After three years at Southern Indiana I had opportunities. One of the things that was not accurately portrayed [over the Illinois controversy] was that I was not a villain in the coaching profession. Most of the coaches recognized I was trying to do the right thing. Just like many things I’ve done in my career, you may not have liked my methods, but listen to the message. The message was this is wrong, and I’m willing to stand up and perhaps do something that’s not very popular. Try not to pay attention to how I did it as opposed to why.
I think the only thing that was unfairly labeled—and there were some in the media that really, really jumped on me and took the other side—because I wasn’t talking. I cooperated with an NCAA investigation and I provided evidence and information that was damaging. But beyond that I wasn’t giving interviews. Since only one side was being told, it obviously put me in a very negative light.
Q. You give a lot of credit for your success to Dr. Tom Davis, your boss at Boston College, Stanford and Iowa?
A. I had a great teacher in Tom Davis. To be mentored by a coach who, if you were to make a list of the top 10 coaches in America that never really got their due, Tom Davis would be on a lot of coaches’ list, and some of the media that know, Tom Davis’ name would be on that list.
Q. You’re committed to your system that you learned from Dr. Tom.
A. We all beg, borrow and steal. But the system, the balance on the floor, it’s got to add up. I am a system coach. We’re committed to being excellent in certain things. Because I wasn’t a great player, and I only worked for Tom Davis, I wasn’t exposed to other systems of basketball. Yes I had to scout them and I had to understand them, but I never played motion, never coached motion. There’s no conflict within me. At the same time, I do believe we tweaked the system. Hopefully taken the best parts of it and added our own things.
Q. Your personality and enthusiasm have been huge assets in getting Tennessee fans interested in basketball again. Are you naturally that outgoing, or did you have to learn to be outgoing?
A. Tom Davis said when you leave me, it’s OK if your teams look like ours. But be yourself. And that served me well, for better or worse. I’m not afraid to wear it on my sleeve. I am humble and hungry. I try not to let success change me or affect me. I am as approachable now as I ever was. I’m willing to serve the community as much or more now because I’m sensitive to the fact that ‘Oh yeah, when he first got here he’d speak to the Rotary Club. Now he won’t.’ I kill myself to try to make sure that isn’t said.
I learned that from [former North Carolina coaching legend] Dean Smith. In 1982, I’m a 22-year-old part-time assistant at Stanford and I’m doing the scheduling. And Dean Smith of course does his own schedule. There I am, on the phone with coach Smith, trying to hammer out when they can come to Stanford and we can return the game. And it’s just not working out because of finals and other things. Dean could have gotten a little frustrated with me. And he didn’t. He stayed as patient with this little part-time assistant, and here he was, the dean of college basketball coaches.
We finally got the dates set, and I wrote him a letter. I thanked him for working with me and not taking advantage of his position. He called me back and said he got my letter and he appreciated it. And then he said, when you get there, to a position where you are successful, treat people the same way you treat them now. And I’ve always remembered that. How much more effort does it take to engage people one at a time like they matter? Versus where you get to the point where you’re so visible, it’s just easier to blow them off. Now you’ve lost a fan, a friend and a supporter.
Q. Last year you were so close. How devastating was the loss to Ohio State [in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16], and how is it driving your team now?
A. If we had a lot of seniors and this was going to be a rebuilding year, that would have been a devastating loss. Instead, it was just a missed opportunity. We continue to take the steps necessary—you can’t win it if you’re not in it—so you put yourself in position to be in it. We got beat in the second round our first year, we got to the Sweet 16 last year. When you’re alive in that second weekend of the tournament, that’s a huge deal. Now you’re playing for the Final Four. Anything can happen and it almost did. We still remember the Alamo [the Ohio State game was played in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas]. If you look at our shirts in the weight room, on the back, it says “Remember the Alamo.” We remember in the second half we didn’t defend, and it cost us a chance to get to the Elite Eight. We’re trying to use that as a painful reminder.
Q. So better defense gets you to that next level?
A. Defense. That was a weakness in my program the last two years that’s got to change. We’re taking greater time in our individual workouts to stress drop-back defense, so it’s going to be a point of emphasis. The other thing we’re trying to tweak is, as we get a little more traditional size and get longer, we’ll start playing zone some.
Q. Talk about your willingness to play anybody, anywhere, any time, especially the so-called mid-major schools.
A. I think playing Chattanooga, Middle Tennessee, the neutral sites in Nashville playing Western Kentucky and Murray State, sometimes you’ve just got to do things because it’s the right thing to do. Chattanooga, Middle, East Tennessee State, the teams that are in state, I know what it was like to be at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and play Wisconsin every year. That was a big, big, big game for us. Our fans liked it. As long as our kids respect the opponent, it’s the right thing to do to play in-state teams.
Why should we play another opponent in the Atlantic Sun if we can play East Tennessee State? Chattanooga is in the Southern Conference. Why should we play another Southern Conference team if we can play Chattanooga? It’s good for basketball in the state of Tennessee. I think it helps everyone and increases fan interest. And in the case of Chattanooga, we’ve got fans down there that may not ever see us play in Knoxville. We have fans in Nashville and Memphis. This is Big Orange country. The whole state.
Q. Can you talk about the Chattanooga game [Dec. 4 at McKenzie Arena]?
A. The last time Tennessee played Chattanooga, it was right here in our building, and we got beat [when Buzz Peterson was coaching the Vols]. So we know they are capable. If we can’t beat Chattanooga at Chattanooga, then we can’t win in the SEC. So let’s just go ahead and get exposed and deal with the consequences if they’re able to beat us.
Q. How did the game come about?
A. John Shulman and I talked about it and thought it would be a great thing. If you look at the state of basketball in Tennessee, that’s a whole other story. The fact that Vanderbilt and Tennessee are a last possession away from having three teams [Memphis was the other] in the Elite Eight. That would have been an unbelievable story.
But what about Belmont, Lipscomb, East Tennessee State, Chattanooga, Austin Peay—all these teams in the state that are so solid in their conferences? I think it’s a national story how good college basketball in Tennessee has gotten. The Chattanooga game will help. So will the double-header in Nashville. If we can support that.