Pearl runs gauntlet of wacky questions

Media Day brings out best, worst in many ways

By Mike Griffith

Saturday, October 24, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Few coaches are as popular with the media as Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl, who never met a question he didn't like or couldn't handle.

An unidentified cameraman flagged down Pearl at SEC Media Day on Thursday and hit him with some questions that made the coach think twice before answering.

Here's a recap:

Question One: Who would you put on your all-time pickup basketball team to play for you?

BP: "Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Tiny Archibald and Bob Cousy. I guess I'd be the weak link.''

Question Two: What's on your iPod?

BP: "I don't have an iPod.''

Question Three: Who's the best player you have either seen play or coached?

BP: "Bernard King. He could do it all, and he dominated.''

Question Four: Who stirs the pot more, you or Lane Kiffin?

BP: "I spent a lot of time trying to be the least popular coach in the SEC, and it took me a year. It took Lane a week."

Question Five: Favorite movie?

BP: "I don't know, I'm not good at this kind of thing. "The Great Escape."

Question Six: Where's your dream vacation?

BP: "It was Israel, but I got to go there last summer. I've never been to Italy.''

Question Seven: Favorite Bruce, Bruce Lee or Bruce Wayne?

BP: "Bruce Springsteen, the Boss!"

Question Eight: The most challenging part of your job?

BP: "Recruiting coast to coast, and talking to guys like you.''

Question Nine: What's the best advice you've heard?

BP: "Hard work alone won't guarantee success, but without hard work, I'll guarantee you won't have success.''

Considered Vols: UT senior forward Tyler Smith was the Vols' player of choice to bring to Birmingham, but there were two players representing other schools who might have just as easily been Vols.

Mississippi State center Jarvis Varnado and Florida wing Chandler Parsons both went far down the recruiting path with UT before choosing their current schools.

"I wasn't a high major recruit,'' said Varnado, who led the nation in blocked shots last year and hails from Brownsville, Tenn. "It came down to Mississippi State and Tennessee. I liked Mississippi State's coaches.''

Parsons, a 6-foot-9 wing who ranks as the leading returning rebounder from last year's 25-11 Florida team, was recruited heavily by the Vols.

"Tennessee made it to my final list of five schools,'' Parsons said. "But I never made it to a visit. I took my first official visit to Florida, and committed there. I didn't take any other visits."

Cool Cal: Kentucky coach John Calipari proved to be a much smoother interview than former Wildcats' coach Billy Gillespie. The media unloaded on Calipari with questions ranging from rivalries to past brushes with the NCAA.

"As you guys shoot arrows at me, they go through bazooka holes,'' Calipari said. "I've been through this stuff before. At 40, I would have been too sensitive for this stuff. Now, I'm like, 'Next?' "

Calipari, 50, left Memphis to take over Kentucky's head coaching job after last season.

Boring Stallings: Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said he doesn't want to make headlines "for the wrong reasons,'' and prefers to keep a low profile.

"I don't agree with all the things Bruce (Pearl) does, or John (Calipari) will do - they won't agree with all I do,'' Stallings said. "I'm going to be a boring stick in the mud, and that's what I like.''