Pearl Didn’t Tell UT About Bump Rule Violation

[UTVolCountry]

Homepage | MrSEC.com

Apparently Tennessee officials had a good reason for not self-reporting a bump rule violation that took place last September, just four days after a press conference announcing self-imposed penalties against Bruce Pearl… Pearl didn’t tell the school about the violation.

In an interview scheduled to run this afternoon on WNML-AM/FM in Knoxville, UT athletic director Mike Hamilton tells radio host Jimmy Hyams that the school found out about Pearl’s accidental bump with a recruit at Virginia’s Oak Hill Academy when the NCAA informed them of it in November.

At the time, Hamilton continued to say that Tennessee wanted to keep Pearl as its head coach even if the NCAA handed him a one-year suspension. But that support seems to be wavering.

“We don’t know the answer today,” the AD said when asked if Pearl will return. “We’ve done a lot of soul searching about the direction of our program and we’ll continue to do that and we’ll decide after we’re out of the NCAA Tournament what direction it is that we’re going to go next.”

“We’re not going to finish our evaluation until after the season is over.”

It’s possible that the media backlash against Pearl’s post-presser bump violation — as well as UT’s disappointing season — have eroded some of the coach’s base. He is still working without a contract at this time. Asked if Pearl is bothered by that fact, Hamilton said: “I’m sure he is. Absolutely. But he had a chance to have had a contract back in November and December and we just never got to the finish line. Now we’ve got to the point where we don’t feel like we can do that.”

 

[UTVolCountry]

I think he's gone.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

Wait... what happened now? WTF is going on at UT? They're destroying their whole athletic program.

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

right now Tennessee is doing this sir

 

[herky]

And to think that I wanted Pearl to come back to Iowa.

 

[UTVolCountry]

If Pearl is fired or steps down, I hope the AD Mike Hamilton leaves too. Can't stand that guy. I think under Hamilton, UT has had 2 baseball coaches, 3 football coaches, and soon to be 3 basketball coaches. He looks like a rat weasel.