Raises for University of Tennessee men’s basketball assistant coaches were announced Thursday evening.

Feel free to applaud. Or complain.

While most UT fans would celebrate a 9 percent raise for themselves, I’m not so sure they will respond similarly on behalf of their basketball coaches. The love runs that deep.

When UT coach Bruce Pearl received a salary hike to $1.3 million after reaching the sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament this spring, many callers to The Sports Page — the News Sentinel’s radio show — said that wasn’t enough.

It’s as though they were afraid School X would wave an extra couple of hundred thousand dollars in his direction, and off he would go, with nothing more than a “see yah.” With others, it might have been a matter of pride. They didn’t want their guy making significantly less money than what SEC rival Kentucky was paying new coach Billy Gillispie — not after Pearl had accomplished so much so fast with a previously mediocre program.

Speculation followed. No matter what Pearl said publicly, some fans said he wasn’t happy with his raise, not when you compared it to the competition — specifically, Kentucky and Florida, which recently made Billy Donovan a $3 million coach.

Pearl said Thursday he is OK with his salary and that of his assistants — Tony Jones, Steve Forbes, Jason Shay and Ken Johnson. He made his point on the record and off in a variety of ways during our conversation Thursday.

“Three years ago, I was making $150,000 (at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee),” Pearl said. “It’s great to be a Tennessee Vol.”

You might have heard that before. You also might have heard him say something like, “We’re the third or fourth program (in the SEC) and we’re the third- or fourth-highest-paid staff. So we’re right there.”

Sounds good, right? Sure, but does that really mean he’s content to stay at UT?

Then, Pearl brought up the subject of loyalty. In today’s market place, I get really nervous when a coach starts talking about loyalty.

Loyalty matters in the coaching community. But money matters more — a lot more.

So the cynic in me posed a couple of hypothetical questions to Pearl, who, unlike most coaches, actually will answer hypothetical questions.

“Suppose Kentucky offered you the same contract it offered Gillispie,” I asked him. “Would you leave UT?”

“No,” he said.

“What if Florida offered you as much money at it offered Donovan?” I asked. “Would you leave?”

“No. And that’s on the record.”

He had just hypothetically turned down one raise of more than half a million dollars and another that would have more than doubled his salary. I said some people would read that and laugh (in disbelief).

“That’s OK,” he said.

Never mind how much Florida, Kentucky or any other SEC school would offer. He said he wouldn’t leave UT for another SEC-coaching job. It’s a matter of loyalty to the school that hired him, he said.

He does have a history of sticking around. He won 104 games in his first four years at Division II Southern Indiana but stayed there another five years, never winning fewer than 23 games. He won 86 games in four seasons at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, then left for UT.

Going from a mid-major to UT was a “no-brainer,” he said. Others might say going to another SEC school for $3 million would be a no-brainer.

“I march to a different drummer,” Pearl said.

Although UT gave him the biggest opportunity of his career, Wisconsin-Milwaukee gave him something, too.

“You know where I’ll be this weekend?” Pearl asked “I’ll be in Milwaukee at a former player’s wedding.”

“Till death do us part,” came to mind.

Pearl doesn’t go quite that far. But he’s so passionate about his commitment to UT, even the most cynical fans should feel reassured — especially when they hear Pearl expects his loyalty and commitment will be rewarded.

He already is encouraged by the huge financial investment UT has made in a practice facility and in refurbishing Thompson-Boling Arena. He expects he and his staff will receive bigger raises if their next team lives up to its lofty expectations. And he expects the administration will remember his loyalty when times aren’t so good.

Of course, some fans would say, “If Pearl is our coach, how could times not be good?”

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.