“Bump Rule” Misunderstanding A Happy Accident For Vols
August 24th, 2011 04:43 PM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink
║ Schools: Tennessee
Tags: Eastern Tennessee, NCAA, recruiting, UT
With the attorney for Tennessee’s ex-assistant basketball coaches already talking up a “major” bump rule violation that ultimately wasn’t, you can be sure that the talk in coming days in Eastern Tennessee will center on what might have been.
“Without that bump rule violation, UT wouldn’t have fired Bruce Pearl!”
The fact that the bump rule violation did not appear in the NCAA’s final report will be used as proof that the NCAA is incompetent… or out to get Tennessee.
But the truth is this: The bump rule allegation was the best thing that could have happened for Tennessee. Think a few steps down the line and that becomes very obvious.
1. The NCAA has handed Pearl a three-year show cause ban. If not for the appearing-then-disappearing bump rule accusation, Pearl might still be Tennessee’s coach today…
2. Meaning the Vols would have had to fire him today and start looking for a new head coach in late-August. Think there’s any school out there that wants to start a coaching search in late-August? (Yes, I said “had to” fire him. Schools don’t keep coaches who are hit with show cause bans, especially if those coaches can’t recruit for three years… which would be the case with Pearl.)
3. Tennessee couldn’t have just given the reins of the program to one of Pearl’s assistants, either, as they’ve all been given one-year show cause bans of their own. So the school would be looking for an entire staff of coaches in late-August.
4. We’re not even going to mention the possibility that UT might have chased an interim coach, because a) who hires an interim coach for three years and b) the interim coach would have needed to find three interim assistants. That would not have been a realistic option in this situation.
5. Had Tennessee kept Pearl in place, who’s to say that the NCAA wouldn’t have come down even harder on the head coach? “How ’bout a five-year show cause ban if you guys aren’t going to take this seriously?”
6. For that matter, isn’t it obvious that UT likely saved itself from further sanctions (recruiting restrictions, lost scholarships, a postseason ban) by exiting Pearl and his staff? Had Tennessee made it clear they were going to keep Pearl, the NCAA might have unloaded on the program for retaining a man who broke its rules, then lied to its investigators, and then tried to coax others into covering up the violations.
If not for the bump rule accusation, Tennessee would likely be facing tougher penalties and a coaching search this afternoon. Instead, UT already has a new coach and a new recruiting class in place. More importantly, Tennessee faces no further roadblocks to their rebuilding process.
The bump-rule-violation-that-wasn’t might have been the best thing that’s happened to the University of Tennessee since its mess began.
What you say may be right,but U.T did hold onto him until it became so obvious even to a casual fan they had to let him go. So how do you explain why the ncaa didn't hand down anything for the fact ut tried their very best to hold onto him? U.T. I say was just lucky so many other schools are in hotter water than they were had the situations at Miami, ohio st. and the others im not going to mention not had trouble then I think ut would have got a few small sanctions acouple of schollys and some recruitment restrictions,but then again they may have felt sorry for them,after all how many top 100 recruits are they gonna get in the next 2 years anyway?
Keltic...
So far, I've only found one instance where a school kept its coach after a show cause ban was handed down and that was a track coach. I also believe it would be awfully difficult to sign players if they were not allowed to even meet their future head coach until after they inked their letter of intent. The NCAA knows that this type of penalty effectively serves as a ban. That's why 99.9% of coaches don't survive them... and why 99.9% of coaches never return from them. I believe, however, that Pearl wil returnl... eventually.
But you can bet that Tennessee would be in the job market today if these sanctions had been levied against their sitting coach. (And there's a very good chance that the penalties would have been worse for the school and for Pearl had UT not already fired him.)
John
If Tennessee had decided to stick with Pearl come hell or high water do you think that after getting the NCAA punishment they would THEN jettison Pearl . . . with no advantage gained. Pearl WOULD need to hire a new staff as his assistants were all similarly sanctioned (for less time though) and need to leave recruiting entirely to them. But Tennessee would not be required to fire Pearl. You've long stated that keeping Pearl would mean tougher sanctions so if you follow that line of thought . . . what would be the point of getting the extra sanctions and THEN firing Pearl? Talk about extreme incompetence if they had decided the worst of both worlds. I submit to you that if they kept Pearl they would not then fire him after the sanctions were released. Not right away at least.
hopefully our bad luck is running out and we will have good luck this season.
Agreed. As to the NCAA issue, the national news picks up the story that Pearl is suspended for three years, which is certainly big news, but what is missed is that TN has received some truly good news in that it can now start moving away from several dark chapters once and for all. No more looming sanctions, no more Kiffin, no more cries of fire Fulmer (regardless of what side of the debate you were on), which seems to have raged for a decade. We can just focus on the excitement & hope of the upcoming seasons. Kickoff in just over a week should be a thrill.
TN has provided quite the news this week, eh? (1) Summit's dementia, (2) NCAA report/Pearl's show-cause, (3) Janzen Jackson dismissed, (4) Peyton Manning hurt. Ok, maybe the last one is not news to other SEC fans, but we still keep up with him around here . . .
[...] Bump rule misunderstanding a happy accident for Vols, writes John Pennington of Mr. SEC. [...]