Former Tennessee basketball player Mark Griffin has given up his season tickets, but he hasn't given up on Tennessee basketball.

Last spring, Griffin voiced his support for former coach Buzz Peterson.

With the embattled Peterson in jeopardy of losing his job, Griffin said if UT fired Peterson he would give up his season tickets.

Griffin, who played for the Vols from 1986-89, returned to the UT campus this weekend for the basketball lettermen's reunion.

"When I was being outspoken, I was being more outspoken for Buzz because I really support Buzz and he's the first coach that I really got to know as a friend," Griffin said Saturday morning at Thompson-Boling Arena.

"Coach (Don) DeVoe was more of respect because he was my mentor, but with Buzz it was a personal friend and we would talk on the phone, visit, and I got to know his family.

"I was showing support for him and that's why I mentioned about giving up my seats. I support Tennessee basketball and I want them to do well. I want Coach (Bruce) Pearl to do well. I was able to meet him for the first time (Friday) night. I was impressed with him. I wish the program well."

Peterson was fired March 13 and Pearl, who led Milwaukee-Wisconsin to the NCAA tournament, was hired March 28.

Griffin said he was able to make a connection with Peterson - one that turned into a friendship - that never seemed possible with two of Peterson's predecessors, Kevin O'Neill and Jerry Green.

Griffin, who moved to Nashville last week for business reasons, is not bitter about Peterson's firing.

"It was just a friendship," Griffin said. "I understand this is a business and you have to make business decisions when you're moving forward. I've had to make business decisions where I've had to let good people go, so I understand what the administration has done to help move this program forward, but at the same time I had a really good relationship with Buzz and still do.

"And that's what I miss because a lot of things behind the scenes you don't see, but the fans demand and we expect a good product when they're on the floor. That's what I come to see, that's what the fans come to see, and I really do think that coach Pearl will be able to bring that product to the floor for the fans to enjoy and compete with Kentucky."

This weekend's basketball letterman's reunion had a better turnout - 111 were registered to attend - than in previous years.

Dale Ellis, a two-time All-American in the early 1980s, attended the lettermen's reunion for the first time.

Ellis, longtime star in the NBA and No. 5 career scorer at UT, moved from Seattle to Marietta, Ga., a couple of years ago.

"I'm not familiar with it (the reunion) at all," Ellis said. "I think it's a wonderful idea. I'm just thrilled I'm able to be a part of it."

UT athletic director Mike Hamilton said he was committed to reconnecting with all the former lettermen when he accepted the job in July of 2003.

Many of the basketball lettermen were recognized at halftime of Saturday's Tennessee-UAB football game.

"We can build on this," Hamilton said. "We will probably continue to have some type of basketball lettermen's reunion every year. It might not be this same formal process where they're recognized at a football game, but it might be at a basketball game."

Dyron Nix, who played for the Vols from 1985-89, would like to see the basketball reunion grow.

"You know what, it's going to have to (grow) because a lot of guys like myself have become so frustrated with the way the program's done," Nix said, "that we're looking for this new coach to step up and bring Tennessee basketball pride back seriously."

Nix, who lives in Atlanta and is in the mortgage business, came to the reunion for the third straight year.

"Really, the (current) players don't understand," Nix said. "It's guys like myself, you know, that take more pride in the university probably than any of the players because when you're here you really don't understand what this means.

"I think a lot of us are frustrated because we have a lot of pride in the university and we want to see this university be one of the top basketball schools. I mean, I didn't come here and bust my butt and play well for four years to hand it over and watch it go down. We want to see it go up."