Gary Parrish: Which school with a 'vision' will hire Bruce Pearl next year?

per Parrish:

So while he's found a niche in the business world and shown he can be an entertaining college basketball analyst on ESPN, the smart money has Pearl returning to the sideline at some point. The only real questions are when and where. And those are questions worth exploring now because -- I wonder if you realize this? -- the three-year show-cause penalty the NCAA levied against Pearl expires one year from Friday.

So what is Pearl looking for in a next job?

I asked him.

He answered this way.

"It's going to need to be somebody that has the vision that Tennessee had," Pearl said. "Tennessee had a vision to try to get its men's basketball program to the level of its football program and where Pat Summitt had the women's basketball program. That was Tennessee's vision. They said, 'We're winning in everything else. We want to do it in men's basketball, too.' So that would be the job I'd want -- a job where somebody has that vision. It would almost need to be a school that's won a national championship in football or baseball. Somebody who's done it and wants to try to do it again in men's basketball. And I'm not saying I can win a national championship. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it would need to be somebody who wants to try to do those things. Let's upgrade the facilities and schedule [national opponents] and engage the fans and be relevant. Just be relevant. That's what we did at Tennessee. I wanted Tennessee to matter to Kentucky fans. I wanted Tennessee to be a game Kentucky fans circled. We did that. And that's the kind of thing I would like to try to do again."

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...with-a-vision-will-hire-bruce-pearl-next-year

Go Gophers!!

Maybe UConn, they fit the Bruce Pearl rules:
1. Top Notch Women's Coach he can compare himself too. Check (although not a woman, maybe Stanford is a better choice).
2. Men's program that isn't afraid to bend or break the rules. Check
3. Fan base he can throughly piss off in about 25 minutes. Check
4. School that will run him out of town after 3 or 4 years of his shenanigans. Check (although all schools meet this criteria)

In reading that I couldn't stop thinking about Texas after Barnes finally gets canned

UConn has Coach Ollie. I don't know if a team would take the risk of hiring him this up coming year. If he can't contact recruits until close to September. It'll be interesting to see where he ends up. Those UWM teams were fun to watch.

silky said:

UConn has Coach Ollie. I don't know if a team would take the risk of hiring him this up coming year. If he can't contact recruits until close to September. It'll be interesting to see where he ends up. Those UWM teams were fun to watch.

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That's right. It's way too early for UConn to fire Ollie. Calhoun worked wonders there (by questionable methods) - they can't expect to continue that level of success and I think they need to give Ollie at least a few more years.

To tell the truth, I was hoping that Minnesota would hire Pearl next year. They fired Tubby a year ahead of schedule, though.

Maybe Pearl and Jimmy Collins will bury the hatchet and coach together somewhere in the Big Ten in a couple years.

The article should have been phrased "Which school without any scruples will hire Bruce Pearl next year?"

Maybe he stays in TV. You don't lose many games behind the commentator's desk, just ask Glen Mason and Gerry DiNardo.

Saber said:

In reading that I couldn't stop thinking about Texas after Barnes finally gets canned

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Buzz Williams has always coveted that job. Yeah Pearl would fit, but I truly think Buzz will leave Marquette for Texas.