Pearl Felt “Helpless” Watching UT Lose On TV

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Suspended by the SEC for misleading NCAA investigators, Bruce Pearl was forced to sit in a Fayetteville hotel and watch his Tennessee team lose to Arkansas 68-65 on television Saturday.  So how rough was that for the coach?

“It was harder because you felt pretty helpless during the game,” Pearl said.  “I took notes the whole game.”

Pearl flew back to Knoxville with the team but did not address the squad until landing back in the Volunteer State.  For their part, his players sounded as though they’ve taken the loss to the Razorbacks hard.

“I could tell by the way coach was walking when I first saw him after the game he was disappointed,” Cameron Tatum told The Knoxville News Sentinel.  “We let him down.  That was a game we should have won and sent a message that we were going to back up our coach.”

Brian Williams also felt bad for not giving assistant coach Tony Jones a victory in his first game in the captain’s chair.  “We let Coach Jones down after he put a lot of work into the scout and getting us prepared.  We don’t want to let our coaches down or our fans down.”

The Volunteers — once 7-0 — are now 10-5 and host Florida and Vanderbilt this week.  Pearl will again be in front of a television for both games.