Former Tennessee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl categorically denies tampering allegations by Ohio guard D.J. Cooper and his parents that date back to 2010.
Pearl, who was dismissed from UT on March 21, 2011, on account of NCAA charges of recruiting improprieties and later received a three-year show cause for lying to NCAA investigators, said that in no way did he attempt to lure Cooper to the Vols.
“I have had no contact with anyone from that family,’’ Pearl said Wednesday. “All I did was say great things about him after we played him in the NCAA tournament. I may have made comments that he certainly could have played at any level, but at no time did I ever have contact with that family.’’
Spokesman Jimmy Stanton said UT has no comment on the allegations.
Cooper said UT and Baylor tried to get him to leave the Bobcats and play at their schools after his freshman season when he was the Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year, according to CBSsports.com.
“It was surprising, being my first experience, that schools were wanting me to come play for their programs,’’ Cooper told CBSsports.com. “I didn’t think about leaving. It’s about loyalty ... I didn’t listen to any of that (transfer talk). I just focused on getting better as a sophomore.’’
Donell Cooper, the player’s father, said Pearl “tried the hardest” to get his son to transfer.
“It’s hard to say how many there were contacting us,’’ Donell Cooper told CBSsports.com. “It was shocking to me that so many coaches would do that behind a school’s back.’’
Cooper’s mother, Dionne, implicated Baylor coach Scott Drew in a story published by the New York Times on Monday. Drew told the New York Times he never talked with the family. Neither Pearl nor UT was mentioned by the New York Times.
Pearl pointed out Wednesday the Vols didn’t have room on their roster for another guard, with three top-50 guards either signed or already playing on the team: Signees Trae Golden and Jordan McRae, and then-sophomore Scotty Hopson.
Tennessee also had Skylar McBee, Josh Bone and Melvin Goins returning in the backcourt.
UT eliminated Cooper and the Bobcats, 83-68, in the second round of the 2010 NCAA tournament. Cooper scored 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting and committed five turnovers against the Vols.
Former UT associate head coach Tony Jones, who was fired along with Pearl last year and is the boys’ basketball coach at Alcoa High School, said he was disturbed by the Coopers’ allegations.
“That’s just ludicrous,’’ Jones told the News Sentinel. “It’s unfortunate people pile on when they view a person who has been compromised. I can say with all honesty Bruce would not have, and did not ever recruit him.
“I was the recruiting coordinator, and I would know that. I’d swear on everything I have he never mentioned that to me, and I was his right-hand man.’’
UT did a sweep of Pearl and his staff’s phone records during last year’s NCAA investigation, which involved an improper off-campus visit at Pearl’s home and charges of improper phone calls made to recruits.
There was no mention of Cooper or tampering charges in either the NCAA enforcement staff’s report or the Committee on Infractions report.
Pearl is splitting his time between his job as Vice President of Marketing for the H.T. Hackney Company and his appearances on Sirius XM Radio’s “Inside College Basketball” show.
Mike Griffith covers Tennessee men’s basketball. Follow him at http://twitter.com/MikeGriffith32
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Comments » 103
w4tey#282182 writes:
Who's the liar liar with the pants on fire ?
SevenT writes:
Every time Pearl opens his mouth it is a lie. Good Riddance, Tennessee is better off without this slimy, sweaty cheat
CoverOrange writes:
3 posts from 3 trolls in 13 minutes. Is that a record KNS? do you give out bonuses?
bigorangeyankees writes:
EVERY coach lies, from middle school on up, my high school coach,basketball and baseball, was a liar and cheater.
CoverOrange writes:
12 minutes, got carried away with the 3's.
thevoice writes:
Guilty until proven innocent. At least in the Court of Public Opinion.
thevoice writes:
Wonder how long Hackney will put up with him. I'd hate to have my very own VP of Marketing have problems with integrity, honesty, deceit, impropriety, etc. Not good for, well, marketing the company in a positive light.
miatatom writes:
"Most would take pearl and his lies and NO ethics just to win"
Really?
You sound like you're describing John Calipari.
thevoice writes:
Based on the article, I'm more apt to believe someone who hasn't been documented as a liar than someone who has.
crocodile writes:
It's a shame Coach Pearl isn't still with us. The clown we have as head coach now is a joke. He's way in over his head.
mountainbrook writes:
Ha! Good one!
givehim6 writes:
Is this old news? Is he still trying to get the kid to UT? Not sure why this is being talked about right now. BP is no longer at UT KNS, this is old news right? Or is something new happening?
larrycook99#274374 writes:
Why do you have to decide now who to believe? There are no provable facts about the incident on the table, but you have to make a decision. Without any facts, it's bound to be a good one.
And you are certain the Coopers have never lied and that Pearl always lies? I assume you have never lied either and if you have, should no one ever believe you again?
FeelVol writes:
Whoopee!!!
rab63 writes:
I wonder if U.T. has considered Pearl as Pat's replacement whenever she decides to leave.
Rich_Is_Re-born writes:
The thing is, I don't think this entire fiasco was originally aimed at Pearl. The Baylor coach, who's character is questionable at best, was being pointed at for this. The family made statements in regard to the situation and stated that The Baylor coach and Tennessee coach tampered pretty heavily. He then said Pearl tried hardest to get him to transfer. I don't think they just sat around and fabricated a story about poor ole Bruce.
As for Bruce, what do you think he's gonna say? I'm sorry, but I think if there's smoke, there's more than likely some fire.
crocodile writes:
Very well stated, and I'll leave it at that!
RememberWhen writes:
go outside...walk across the street...give Bruce a big hug...then put your feelings back in the drawer. Perhaps by morning you'll become a sensible human being.
IC_Vol writes:
Thier are no provable facts but the phone records indicate no contact. Knowing Pearl he gave the kid tremendous praise prior to UT playing them and after we dusted them off and the kid took it the wrong way.
It is ironic that this article brought trolls from all areas of this board.
Rich_Is_Re-born writes:
I tried to keep everything under control. But I finally had to give in and I began to laugh. Then as I was laughing I read your post again and could no longer control my laughing. It then dawned on me. Has Kentucky EVER NOT cheated? And I hope you don't mind me adding to your list, but I would like to add Eddie Sutton to your list.
eepwlg writes:
What a crock (you are). Leave Coach Pearl alone. He's paying for his mistakes. It sounds like this player's parent are trolling for something. And Coach Martin is a fine man and a fine coach. Why don't you either slide back under the river bank,or more likely go clean up your room in your parent's basement.
GerryOP writes:
The best thing that happened to Coach Cal since he finally got a gig in the SEC, Bruce Pearl got fired. Left the field wide open for Coach Cal to "do his thing" with no competition.
The big difference between Coach Cal and Bruce Pearl? Pearl got caught, Calipari hasn't ... yet.
Rich_Is_Re-born writes:
Dude, the list you gave was pretty deep. Wouldn't be hard to miss a name or two. Trust me, you more than proved your point. LOL at the Jim Harrack comment. What's funny...every coach that cheats and gets caught keeps cheating. Then when they get caught again and lie, they can't understand why nobody believes them.
Ayres_Hall writes:
Pearl is in coaches jail for another 2 years. Ha, ha, ha!
GerryOP writes:
Sounds just like Pearl's hero Coach Cal, no provable facts. Just two schools with vacated records.
Rich_Is_Re-born writes:
Yeah, I'm sure these folks just looked at a map and pointed out two areas. One being Waco Texas and one being Knoxville Tennessee. Just so happens that both schools happen to be half a country away from one another and both had coaches with questionable character. Yeah, they just picked those two coaches and started firing away. I'm sure the kid loves discussing this on the week of the biggest game of his life, and possibly the history of his schools program.
Why do you guys think these people would just RANDOMLY pick out Pearl and Baylor's coach. Baylor's coach is a slimy SOB, and I wouldn't put anything past him. Wouldn't doubt anything Pearl would do either.
rockypop writes:
But yet, you have to wonder what the Cooper's family motivation was to make these allegations of multiple coaches seeking to entice their son to transfer. He's getting all the playing time he can endure, and if it's NBA interest, he need not worry about that either, because scouts will find him. The family doesn't seem to have any bone to pick with Pearl, so I'm having a hard time understanding what they have to gain by revealing this information unless they just want the truth to get out.
Horace writes:
C'mon KNS, change your policy and, like the Tennessean and WBIR, start requiring real names...let the trollers and cockroaches start showing accountability for their nasty comments.
FanNotSheep writes:
Unless the kid was at the barbecue he obviously was not in the inner circle. Pretty sure there was some kind of wiccan ritual going on there and they put hexes on future opponents and stuff. Not to worry though because the NCAA excels at witch hunts and they always get their man.
Apparently the kid and his dad have big egos and needed to show the world they could extend their 15 minutes. Really there is not one reason for Pearl to lie here. Do you think the NCAA can take away his job now?
They have UT right where they want us: in the mid to lower level of the SEC in both major sports. The NCAA Keystone Cops are probably scheming to destroy some other program, and since UT is now in smoking ruins I don't think we are on their radar any more. As long as we lose to Austin Peay and MTSU we are safe. Of course if we start creeping up into the upper echelon again, look out!
Rich_Is_Re-born writes:
Ding ding ding ding ding! We have a winner.
GerryOP writes:
Creeping up into the upper echelon? #2 in the SEC? Maybe you missed it?
1vavolfan writes:
I believe Pearl only because he only recruited top prospects to a fault. He didn't wan't Jalen Steele who was a pretty decent prospect who lived in Knoxville. He was correct that at that time he had Craft, Selby, and McCrae. Then he ran off to coach some Jewish National Team and lost Selby.
FanNotSheep writes:
The SEC was not great man. No offense to Martin or the team, but the quality wins begin and end with Florida. We still have Billy D's number and that's great! But really bad losses even it out. We struggled to beat Savanna State! The other SEC teams that made the NIT and NCAA (except KY and UF) are gone aren't they?
Vols had a chance to get into the upper echelon. But they were really tied with several teams for the 2 seed and they ended the season with a thud.
I have high hopes for Stokes and Maymon, but teams figured out how to expose Golden on defense, and Martin – like Pearl – doesn't appear to be nearly as good an offensive coach as a defensive one. Pearl's teams could make up for it with transition. Martin's teams have to grind. It was good for him to try to build confidence in his perimeter shooters but much of that proved to be misplaced. He should have called time out in the Ole Miss and MTSU games and told the players to get the ball to Maymon and Stokes or stay on the bench. We should have won both those games. A 15-0 run to end the season with a loss to MTSU is as bad as you can get – unless we had lost to Savanna State.
In recruiting the only bright spot I have seen so far is Stokes. We need a lot to go with him or we waste him. And I'd guess he will leave sooner than later if he has success and the team doesn't. After Maymon leaves, Stokes will be double teamed constantly unless we get more really good players. So if he has a great year with Maymon next year, and no other help is on the way, do you think he would help himself by staying and risking a sub-par junior year?
jt45 writes:
Hogwash, the entire story is nothing but fodder for the media, even worse is this kids family saying look at us, BP liked the way our son played BB. And now KNS is feeding the little trolls on this board the crumbs from old news.
Like Buzzards looking for roadkill, nothing more.
frblalack writes:
Spoken like someone who failed their GED class!
Moronic statement! Just shows complete separation from reality...don't bogart that joint! Hey, dude...did you find your car, man?
All Vols - All the Time - Respect the Big Orange!
EarlThePearl writes:
Found an old interview where Lew Alcindor claimed Ray Mears called him and tried to get him to come to UT. Come on KNS we need some eqaul time for ex UT coaches. Same thing happend with DeVoe when he called Doowayne (The Astronaut) Scales at LSU to entice him. Offer of a 72 Deuce and a Quarter was not good enough.
GerryOP writes:
Sorry you find it necessary to make excuses for winning. Consider some simple facts. A year ago this date Bruce Pearl was gone and left behind a smoking, putrid, toxic waste dump. Most of these kids did not even know each other and had never played together. Coach Zo was still moving to K'town. The SEC wizards predicted an 11th place finish in the SEC. And what did Coach Zo deliver? 19 wins including a split with Vandy, a sweep of the Gators, and 2nd place in the SEC. Second place, not a tie, look it up. Yet you make an excuse like the "SEC was not great man."
C'mon dude, wake up and smell the coffee. The entire nation recognizes what Coach Zo accomplished this year yet fans like you continue to put him down. Some people see the glass as half full, others see the glass as half empty, but clowns like you scratch your head and say "What glass?"
As someone above said "This year we probably saw the wrost year Coach Zo is going to have at UT, and it was pretty good." Do you look at everything in your life this negatively? Sad .... really sad.
volthrunthru#658770 writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
LaneBrains writes:
...and I never called Tyler B. when I was leaving for 'SC. Both Bruce and I have a line we will not cross!
CLK, Monte and Ed
volman2008 writes:
you would strike a man with a broke arm,and you would kick a man butt if he had a broken leg, you sound like that type a guy.
EarlThePearl writes:
Nixon Kind of Denied Knowledge of the Watergate Break In.
Calapari sort of denied knowing about the 40K Marcus Camby took from an Agent while at UMass
Clinton strongly denied he did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.
Lou Sabans Nephew Categorically Denied he was leaving the Dolphins for BAMA.
Bruce Pearl vehemently denies contact with D.B. Cooper. I tend to beleive Bruce. He was only 8 when Cooper Hijacked that Airplane.
Laydbakvol writes:
Martin's a great guy and I think he was a good hire but to this day I still think that it the decision to fire Pearl showed a spineless lack of loyalty to a man who did so much for UT and tried to do his best to make amends for a mistake he honestly admitted.
notorange writes:
Make mine a double cheeseburger please Mr. pearl....
bigorangesob writes:
well said
SummittsCourt writes:
Where's the proof?
larrycook99#274374 writes:
I couldn't care less about Pearl (or you either actually). What I do care about, is when people go off and think they know everything about a subject because they read it in a newspaper or on the internet or heard it on the radio from some supposed expert who has "no reason to lie". How the heck do you know what a person's reasons are for doing anything, particularly if you have never ever met the person? Do you really believe that the people writing all of these stories just want to tell the truth and have absolutely no other motives? Really?
People comfort themselves into believing that they can say whatever they want about these so-called celebrities because they have all this money or have it made in some way and it won't matter or for some reason they deserve it. But the truth is that the more often you denigrate yourself by denigrating others, the easier it becomes to do it and then the more often you do it and then you are doing it to people close to you (if you weren't already) and then before you know it they are doing it to you because, hey, it is OK to say whatever you want about whomever you want whenever you want. And when that does happen to you, perhaps then you'll become a sensible human being, too.
abnerPeabody writes:
Pearl was caught in his lie and only admitted it when he was shown the proof. He didn't admit because he was sorry,he admitted because he was caught. Well, maybe he was just a little sorry .Not for lying but for being caught.Kind of like ball players being sorry only when they are caught doing things they aren't suposed to be doing.
Pearl was a good Coach however.
easleychuck writes:
I feel sorry for you. The coaches I played for were some the of best people that I have ever had the pleasure of associating with in my life.
My rec league coach Bob Davis would pick us up for practice. Get us back and forth to our games if we did not have rides. Now as an adult, I am still amazed that someone invested that type of time for other folks children.
My junior coach, Glen Worley, taught us life lessons constantly in practice.
Coach John Darden at Rule High School would take money from his own pocket to make sure a kid had a meal. When I tore up an ankle my junior year, he came and took me for treatments to aid in the healing on multiple occasions.
When I decided to transfer back to Knoxville from Chattanooga, my coach, Ron Shumate encouraged me to just be sure to stay in school and get a degree.
Again, sorry you were not so fortunate.
PHAT_VOL writes:
Pearl good coach but lite on honor and integrity. Are his character flaws limited to just lying? What do you call a person who uncontrolably lies? The guy needs help.
GO VOLS!!
Bubba_Knows writes:
Trolls or no trolls. They are right this time. Pearl has shown his true character and it is not pretty.
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