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Pearl ‘embarrassed' by LSU's firing of Brady
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Butch Pierre, LSU’s interim basketball coach, said he could tell before last Saturday’s game against Tennessee that his players were “physically and mentally drained.” The previous 48 hours had been difficult: They learned that their head coach, John Brady, had been fired in the middle of his 11th season, and then had to go out and deal with the then-seventh-ranked Vols.
After Tennessee won, 47-45, on JaJuan Smith’s layup with 11 seconds remaining, spoiling an inspired effort by LSU, Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl took the opportunity at his post-game press conference to rail against Brady’s midseason firing, which LSU athletics director Skip Bertman had said was warranted because Brady “didn’t win enough games.” The loss dropped the Tigers to 8-14 and 1-7 in the SEC.
“They won the SEC championship 22 months ago,” Pearl told reporters after the game. “Twenty-two months ago, the guy was in the Final Four. Twenty-two months ago! Twenty-two months ago, they were 14-2 and won the SEC championship. Twenty-two months ago! This is beyond me.”
Once upon a time, Pearl said, coaches got fired for failing to graduate enough players or for cheating. Now, he said, coaches are getting fired for a couple of sub par years.
“And in the middle of the season?” Pearl continued. “That’s embarrassing. I’m embarrassed. I’m embarrassed.”
If the timing of Brady’s dismissal seemed unusual, South Carolina coach Dave Odom said it was indicative of a “trickle-down” effect from the NBA. College sports, he said, are big business. Coaches are paid higher salaries, he said, and the onus of what-have-you-done-for-me-lately has grown.
“I think today you’ve got a bigger emphasis on winning and championships and things of that nature,” said Odom, who recently announced he would retire at season’s end.
Odom raised another interesting point: Brady was adversely affected by players leaving early for the NBA. Glen Davis, now with the Boston Celtics, and Tyrus Thomas, a second-year forward with the Chicago Bulls, still would have been on the team this season had they opted to remain in school. In addition, Brady was hindered by bad fortune: He lost his best player, Tasmin Mitchell, this season because of a stress fracture in his left foot.
“My guess is, had those things not happened, instead of being at the bottom of the Western Division, he would have been at or near the top of all 12 teams,” Odom said. “Because nobody would have better talent and nobody would coach them better than he would.”
If Brady was not beloved in Baton Rouge, he appeared to build strong relationships within the SEC coaching fraternity. Like Odom, who assessed Brady as “one of the best technical coaches in the SEC,” Florida coach Billy Donovan described his long friendship with Brady during Monday’s teleconference with reporters.
“I hope he’s happy, I hope he’s OK,” Donovan said.
In 1997, Brady inherited an LSU team that was facing penalties because of NCAA violations. The Tigers were still on probation when he won his first SEC championship in his third year. He went 192-139 and guided the team to the 2006 Final Four.
Pierre, a long-time assistant under Brady, said he was disappointed with the loss to UT but not with his players’ effort.
“I told them that we don’t need any moral victories because we’ve had those before,” he said. “What we have to do is just handle adversity and try to get something positive out of each game we play, and hopefully we can play relentless and hard. I think the attitudes are good, because the past 48 hours, at that particular time, the kids were under a lot of stress. And the way they responded was just fantastic."
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Posted by bugman on February 12, 2008 at 7:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yea..this is crazy. Brady was a good coach. Pearl won't be done that way.
Posted by doctorvol on February 12, 2008 at 8:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It didn't help that he dissed the football team's schedule the week before.
Posted by murrayvol on February 12, 2008 at 8:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Given what he's done in 2 years plus, I would hope you're right bugman. I'm glad Pearl said his piece because he's right. Too often coaches are being fired for all the wrong reasons.
Posted by mparker on February 12, 2008 at 8:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I can't believe you guys are saying this. If Bruce goes belly-up next year without Chris, JaJuan, Jordan, and probably Tyler, there'll be rumblings. A year more of subpar, and there'll be fulmerites out.
us fans are jerks anymore; we pay big bucks to support the programs, we expect the best every year. it really isn't what it used to be.
Posted by orangebass on February 12, 2008 at 8:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Bruce would never not work hard and I cannot imagine a team he coaches be that out of control on and off the field. So no real fear of the kind of reaction fans have voiced about coach fullmer.
Posted by watchdog on February 12, 2008 at 8:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What John Brady should have said publicly after getting canned by Bertman: "The boy did what he did and I had no control over that." (apologies to Pokey Chatman)
Posted by TurboFan on February 12, 2008 at 9:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Smells like a Johnny Majors type deal or maybe a Cutcliffe/Mississippi deal. Wasn't liked by those that paid his salary.
Posted by GreerVol22 on February 12, 2008 at 9:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Smells like something much more personal rather than performance based. The AD can always use the performance thing as a cop out and get away with it.
Posted by Cherokee on February 12, 2008 at 9:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree GreerVol - there was a personal nature to this, otherwise I don't really see the need to humiliate the man (as big of a jerk as he often was), by firing him in the middle of the season. Except in unusual circumstances, that's like replacing an outfielder in the middle of an inning. On the bright side for Brady, LSU gets to pay him to look for other employment.
Posted by dfreeman on February 12, 2008 at 10:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
meanwhile UK 11 Vandy 41 at halftime!! Can any of you remember a half that UK ever played that bad?? Holy crap!!
Posted by balloonman on February 13, 2008 at 12:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
orangebass:.....say what you like about coach Fulmer but lazy is way out in left field! ....works 355 days a year and then takes 10 days off.....comes to work at 5am and never leaves before 10pm unless he's going to one of his daughters events.....during the season he spends the night at the office 3 or days a week....no one on this board could carry his jock when it comes to effort!
Posted by VolBall on February 13, 2008 at 6:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Pearl's comments supporting Brady, a rival coach who at least on the surface always appeared to be abrasive and disrespectful towards him, really reflect his character as a coach and a man. Pearl is such a class act and is quickly positioning himself atop the coaching world, especially in the SEC. There is not a coach in America for whom I'd make a trade.
Mark my words, even should we lose Tyler to the NBA next year along with our star seniors, Pearl's energy and infectious personality will have top quality young men lined up to play at UT, stemming any major let downs. He develops his players.
Suggesting that Pearl would ever let his program reach the level of mediocrity Fulmer now faces, is rediculous.
Posted by Chrisoda751 on February 13, 2008 at 7:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
VolBall,
I think coach Pearl is a great coach. I also think coach Fulmer is a great coach. It's a little harder to control 85 players compared to 15. Coach Fulmer has done an excellent job and his record says so. If playing in the SEC championship game (ahead of Florida, Georgia, and SC) is mediocrity, then I guess Fulmer needs to be in a BCS game every year for people to be happy. That's unrealistic.
Posted by tnbanker_govols on February 13, 2008 at 9:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great comment VolBall, talk about the great character of Bruce Pearl and then show everyone your lack of character with your 2 cent comment on Fulmer. How can you ridicule a football coach and make comments on his season of "mediocrity" when he wins SEC East and finishes in the Top 15???
Posted by armyvol544 on February 13, 2008 at 9:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with Chrisoda751. If this would happen to Coach Fulmer I can see Coach Pearl saying the same thing to the press about him. I love Tennessee and their fans but a lot of them are not realistic.
Posted by john on February 13, 2008 at 9:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Pearl said what he said because he knows it could happen anywhere, even to him and especially at a place like Tennessee. Think about it; the expectations are always high, and with his phenominal early success, now, even higher. So what if all of a sudden he starts pulling in guys so good they go pro after just a season or two, Pearl's never had to go thru that. Add in a guy getting hurt, another one screws up off court like Brady's guys did, and he's right where Brady was, playing his second five really. Let's just hope the fair weather idiots on this board don't run a great coach like Pearl off at the first sign of trouble. It can happen to anyone, even Pearl.
Posted by 48orangenation48 on February 13, 2008 at 12:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yea, I was watching that game and I was embarrassed. We only beat the last place team by two with 11 seconds left! And they didn't have their head coach! But that was a crazy move by Skip Bertman. I mean two seasons ago LSU had enough to go to the national championship. And after two seasons that aren't to good he gets fired, that's a little crazy to me.
Posted by DenmarkVol_aka_Mbumburu on February 13, 2008 at 1:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sorry, from what I've seen, I can't imagine Bruce Pearl ever having a losing season, no matter who he's coaching. Even if he had 3-4 losing seasons in a row, I'd stick with him.
With what he's done for this basketball program, he's already earned that, in my opinion.
Posted by johnlg00 on February 13, 2008 at 1:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Another weird thing is that Bertman himself is retiring within the year. So now he wants the responsibility of hiring a coach that his successor might be burdened with! And how, under the circumstances, would it have been so bad to wait until the end of a nowhere season? Does he think the interim guy will cause them to catch fire and win the SEC tournament now? One gets the feeling that there is more to this than Brady's recent won-loss record. I get it that the boosters may not like him, either, but, again--mid-season?!?!?
Posted by volfaninVA on February 13, 2008 at 7:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What happened to John Brady at LSU is no different than what two-thirds of the people that post here regularly were asking UT to do with Coach Fulmer four months ago. It's not about hard work and loyalty. It's not about a sustained record of achievement. It's "what have you done for me lately." Welcome to college athletics in 2008. You're going to see a lot more of it coming. Can you say adios Mark Gottfried?
Posted by hueypilot on February 15, 2008 at 10:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Embarassed? You were embarassed because we only beat LSU by two? How old are you? Nine? Do you have any grasp on basketball history in the SEC? Anytime you win a basketball game on the road in the SEC you need to be thankful for the win and get the heck back home. How do you think Kentucky fans feel after their visit to Memorial Gym in Nashville? That might fit the bill of being embarassed. Amazing. The expectations of some fans these days is absolutely unreal.
Posted by romevol on February 19, 2008 at 8:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
hueypilot...you are correct. The sad thing is that although I think that both Pearl and Fulmer are great coaches, they can say and do all the right things (as Pearl is doing now) and it will not matter if they do not put enough W's on the board. As fans, it's amazing how short our memories are.
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