Tennessee fires Bruce Pearl

[Adam]

So, what were the actual violations that set your program back so far? Regardless of the reason the investigation started, it seems y'all were caught with something.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

So, what were the actual violations that set your program back so far? Regardless of the reason the investigation started, it seems y'all were caught with something.

This is exactly my point. They were not clean and what Pearl might have reported was not the worst thing or unusual in any way from a competing program. Recruiting is sleazy in major college basketball, this was just something that got out and Coach Pearl was directly involved. But if you talk to many Illini fans, they just will not let it go. They have relished in this situation with Pearl as if the situation is directly involved with the Illini situation.

Peace

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

This is exactly my point. They were not clean and what Pearl might have reported was not the worst thing or unusual in any way from a competing program. Recruiting is sleazy in major college basketball, this was just something that got out and Coach Pearl was directly involved.

Exactly. This is the reason there's so much animosity about Pearl and the situation - it happens everywhere, but only penalized here. (True, "only" is not correct, but it certainly felt that way at that time.) Sleaze started the process, and apparently none of that sleaze was penalized. If IL did something wrong, they deserved to be penalized just like everyone else. Not different from everyone else.

Originally Posted by JRutledge

But if you talk to many Illini fans, they just will not let it go. They have relished in this situation with Pearl as if the situation is directly involved with the Illini situation.

I don't think it's an issue of feeling it directly involes Illinois, but rather a feeling that perhaps a little bit of karma has finally come back to run over the person that started the process.

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

So, what were the actual violations that set your program back so far? Regardless of the reason the investigation started, it seems y'all were caught with something.

The actual violation was "lack of institutional control". Iow, they did not find any specific major violations, such as the ones originally implied on the recruitments of Thomas and Ellis. The article mentioned above, while perhaps written a little over-the-top, was accurate from the other reporting I'd seen at the time. The tapes of phone conversations that Pearl provided had problems, from both a technical and a legal standpoint. The principal person involved with the Ellis recruitment admitted he lied. After many weeks and months involved in the NCAA investigation, you will not find any mention in the final report of the events that started it. The feeling was they found some minor infractions that could be found almost anywhere and not penalized, but since they spent all this time on it, they had to come up with "something". There's also the feeling that since IL didn't automatically go along with the NCAA attorney (Mike Slive) and actually fought the initial charges, that the purposely-vague charge was retribution of sorts for going against the NCAA.