Pearl moves on

Well, it's all but official. Bruce Pearl has accepted the head coaching job at the University of Tennessee. While I truly thought that Pearl was going to stay in Milwaukee one more year to coach his talented crop of seniors returning, it seems as though the money the Vols were offering was simply to much. At UWM he wasn't quite making $300,000 per year, and UT is offering $1 million. That's a lot of cash.

However, I question how successful Bruce will be down south. Men's basketball is third fiddle at UT, behind football and women's basketball. However, that aspect seems to be something that Pearl relishes in. He is such a marketer and promoter of programs, that he probably sees an opportunity to quietly build up a winner. The one thing I question is that UT has been a coaching graveyard. Pearl will become the Vols seventh coach in 17 years. It's a place coaches go to get rich, not to win titles.

If you remember, former MU head coach Kevin O'Neil left the then Warriors for the Vols. He is the only coach from UT in recent history to go onto bigger and better things. He moved to Northwestern, which may actually be a step down, depending how you look at it, but he also has coached in the NBA. But besides that, who can you name that was a coach at UT?

I do think Pearl can succeed there. I truly believe he's a great coach. But now he can't rely on JuCo transfers to win. And he's recruiting against the likes of Kentucky and Florida within the same conference as him, not to mention other perennial powers from the area like Kansas, North Carolina and Duke. Technically, UNC and Duke aren't from the area, but you know Duke gets at least a few of the top recruits from around the nation each year.

If you haven't looked, the state of Tennessee features some of the top prep recruits in the entire at the current time. Maybe Pearl can get some of them to play for the Vols? Well, figure one of them will probably wind up in the ACC and one will probably go pro. There's my point. He's not recruiting against UWGB or UIC any longer.

The only thing I have a problem with is Ernie Grunfeld. He came to Milwaukee and dismantled the Bucks, and now is vouching hard to this aluma mater for Bruce Pearl to be the next coach. Great, thanks Ernie. Keep well away from the state of Wisconsin please.

All mid-major coaches who achieve success, move on to bigger programs. It's a constant uphill battle for schools such as UWM. Look at Nevada, Trent Johnson left for Standford. Look at Southern Illinois, Bruce Weber left for Illinois. Now look at UWM, Bruce Pearl left for Tennessee.

Another reason I look at as to why Pearl left is the tiff between Illinois himself due to the whole Deon Thomas recruiting scandal. In Milwaukee, it was always hanging over his head because of the rivalry with UIC and Jimmy Collins. Now, Bruce can really get away from it and focus on b'ball.

I honestly hoped he'd be back for one more year at UWM to coach his stocked cupboard of talent and I feel for the seven seniors he's leaving behind. But I understand why coaches move on and hope Bruce doesn't go to UT and fade away.