If this is legit, sounds like Mike Hamilton may finally be making a decision on Pearl's future in Knoxville.
Pearl Didn’t Tell UT About Bump Rule Violation; School’s Support Wavering
March 16th, 2011 ? Posted By: John Pennington ? Permalink ? Tags: Tennessee
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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.”
As we said at the time, Pearl should have signed whatever contract UT
placed before him. He was lucky to have a job. And after Tennessee and
Hamilton took a beating in the national press for standing by him, it’s
certainly understandable that they would be upset that he did not
inform them of the bump rule violation… whether he viewed it to be a
serious infraction or not.
The interview with Hamilton will run in the Knoxville market at 3pm ET.
Our thanks to WNML for the heads-up. We’ll have more on MrSEC.com
after the interview airs.
http://www.mrsec.com/2011/03/pearl-didnt-tell-ut-about-bump-rule-violation-schools-support-wavering/
Pearl Didn’t Tell UT About Bump Rule Violation; School’s Support Wavering
March 16th, 2011 ? Posted By: John Pennington ? Permalink ? Tags: Tennessee
Send This Story To A Friend
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.”
As we said at the time, Pearl should have signed whatever contract UT
placed before him. He was lucky to have a job. And after Tennessee and
Hamilton took a beating in the national press for standing by him, it’s
certainly understandable that they would be upset that he did not
inform them of the bump rule violation… whether he viewed it to be a
serious infraction or not.
The interview with Hamilton will run in the Knoxville market at 3pm ET.
Our thanks to WNML for the heads-up. We’ll have more on MrSEC.com
after the interview airs.
http://www.mrsec.com/2011/03/pearl-didnt-tell-ut-about-bump-rule-violation-schools-support-wavering/
