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http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/6889041/bruce-pearl-ex-tennessee-volunteers-coach-receive-show-cause-penalty

Well, it's good to hear before the season starts and, assuming no new penalties, we should be in fairly good shape long term.

The KNS is reporting no additional sanctions for football OR basketball.

http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2011/aug/23/sources-ut-escapes-further-ncaa-sanctions-bruce-pe/

That isn't too surprising re: football, but it's a huge break for Cuonzo and the basketball program, since just about everyone expected at least a few lost scholarships.

Just means that Pearl is going to get "blown up"

I'm also surprised BB isn't getting hit harder (assuming this is true), given how the media blew it so far out of proportion.  But it IS appropriate, IMO.  Other than Bruce lying to the investigators (and he's already gone), then it really just boils down to a few phone calls and a few ribs, and no competitive advantage whatsoever was gained.  

Hopefully, this will translate to a recruiting boon in both sports now that this monkey is finally off our backs, and opposing recruiters will no longer have that silver bullet to use against us.

And that's the biggest thing.

Being reported that Pearl will get a 3 year show cause and his assistants a 1 year show cause. 

Looking like the D-League is going to be Pearl's only real option. 

In fact, I wonder if our coaching staff has been sitting on this news for awhile now, seeing as we went from 2 commits to 16 in like two weeks.  Maybe they got the good news and passed it along to recruits early?

If this news is true then I'm going to say what I said I would not be able to say:

It could have been worse.

Quite frankly, considering the state of things in college FB today, I'm shocked.

And I'm also surprised (and disappointed) that our most recent previous coach escaped unscathed.

Ahhh ... hadn't thought of that, good point! 

In the case of Bruce, I am pretty sure there was worse stuff that probably just could not be proven.  We are IMO very fortunate to get off this lightly.

Based on what?

My question exactly. Bandit has been hinting at this lately and I've heard nothing that makes me think there was anything more.

I dunno, but it's funny how a fan base turns. 8 months ago our fan base was right behind Bruce and wanted to keep the guy because he was so good for the program, the university, the area, and most importantly the young men he coaches (all of which would still be true if he were still the coach). By the time he was let go, most of the fans were saying that firing him was the only option-- a big change with no new facts in the picture. And now, a few months later, a lot of our fans are downright mean to him and he's mentioned in the same breath with coaches who were involved in issues of eligibility and amateurism-- CHEATING-- by our own fans.

This won't surprise anybody but I'm disgusted by the whole thing. I'm disappointed that Bruce didn't tell the truth but I'm far more disappointed in our fans and administration who hung him out to dry and continue to try to beat the dust out of him like an old rug. I also don't think people have come to terms with the immediacy of the decline we are going to see in basketball, and that's no knock on Cuonzo Martin.

This all may sound naive because of the beating we were taking in the media nationally over the whole deal, and that's an unfortunate effect of the era we live in. Maybe we couldn't keep him. But that doesn't mean that tens of thousands of UT fans have to dog him and I'm a little tired of seeing it happen. This is not directed at Bandit or anyone else in particular . . . just a rant borne of frustration.

I agree with you, but... provided the news about the lack of further punishments is true, it appears that firing him (and possibly getting rid of Hamilton) was the right move by the administration. I never liked the fact of how they trumped up a violation to justify it... it would've been much better if they had just said "Hey, if we don't fire him we are going to get hammered" I would've accepted it better. In the end, we just couldn't keep him.

That being said, I am right there with you about people (fans and media) that include him in the same breath with real cheaters. That gets my blood boiling. I think 3 years is far too exorbitant a penalty for the crime.

I think that's something we will never know. I never thought people were asking the right question, though. 5 years from now, would our basketball program be better off by firing Pearl and avoiding penalties or by keeping him and weathering the penalties? Even with (apparently) no further penalties to the program I don't think the answer to that question is clear.

Yes, we dodged penalties. We also lost the best coach we've had in decades in a sport we have spent most of history disappearing from in order to dodge them. I have a hard time assuming we won in that exchange.

I think it's plainly (and painfully) clear... he was going to get a three year show-cause whether we fired him or not. If we kept him, we would either have to suspend him for three years or face the wrath of the NCAA who would've murdered our program to the point where it would've been like he was suspended for three years... no ability to recruit, no postseason, and probably no TV. It would've been like a three year death penalty for basketball.

I think you are assuming that no matter who the coach is that they will fail. I choose to hope that because Bruce succeeded, someone else can too. Bruce couldn't have succeeded under what the NCAA was going to do if he were still the coach.

I wish Bruce were still the coach, but based on the charges levied by the NCAA, it was the right move to fire him and I don't see debate in it the way you do.

You made a lot of assumptions above. They may all be true, but I don't think we can know that. If the NCAA would have murdered the program to the point you suggest, then that just goes to show how arrogant and misguided the NCAA is. Nobody likes to be lied to, but the NCAA treats that worse than coaches who truly unlevel the playing field however they choose, and that is what the NCAA should really be protecting its institutions from.

I'm not assuming failure, or at least I'm trying not to. I think I'm being realistic based on history. I hope Cuonzo is a great coach but I also don't think it's assuming too much to say he's no Bruce Pearl. Too many great things happened in the last 5 years to think someone can do that again. When I recount them in my head it almost seems too good to have actually happened.

Failure may have been inevitable if we kept Bruce, and I'm sure that's what led to the decision. I can completely understand where you are coming from and I'm probably being irrational about the decision to cut him loose. It's hard for me to let go of the idea that magic touched UT basketball for 5 years and is now gone, rather than the program really being on a new trajectory.

I'm with you on the last two paragraphs.

I think I made assumptions about the possible punishments but there is no doubt UT basketball would've been hammered had they kept Bruce. They gave Bruce a 3 year show cause penalty. I think it's same to assume that he wouldn't have received less than that had UT continued to employ him. At that point UT would've had to show the NCAA cause as to why they were keeping him and the NCAA could've (and would've) imposed sanctions against UT for keeping him. It would've been bad. The NCAA wants Bruce Pearl out of coaching for three years. If a school decided to say "Screw you" I don't think they would've handled that very well at all.

I'd say there's a very good chance you're right about that. I have no confidence in the NCAA to handle things of this nature. They flex muscle where they can and cower in the fizzleing corner when there's something really hard to do. They thought this was an easy pressure point, and clearly it was.

Also, on a related point, I have little confidence that the USC, OSU, and Miami investigations would have been serious without media involvement. Those programs are too big to be under the kind of scrutiny the NCAA has been forced to subject them to.

I'm afraid you're right on that.

That is complete and utter bullshizzle. To say this implies that had we kept Pearl we could've ignored his 3-year "show cause".

Pearl hammered and Kiffin skates.

This makes me sad.

The good news is, Bruce can feel good about most of what he did for UT and lives to coach another day (even if it's NBADL). Kiffin has to live with being a douchebag the rest of his life.

The bottom line is that Pearl was given a 3 year show cause and prohibitted from recruiting for that entire 3 year period, and all 3 assistants a 1 year show cause and were prohibitted from recruiting. 

How could you keep a staff that had no one that could recruit for a full year, and the head coach had 3 years?  Talk about a program killer. 

There just was no other option - period - other than to fire the staff and bring in a completely new one. 

Time to pay the piper and reveal something you know or is it all speculation?  If it is speculation then it is time to just let it go.  Sitting where I am right now there are no "sleeping dogs" with this one from all of the people I have talked with over in the AD.

Yes for sure it's unjust.  The only comment I could make is that Kiffin really was only found guilty of secondary violations, which we should be grateful for, since unfortunately they occurred at our school.

So as big as a scumbag as he is, I can see why he did not get in worse trouble.

That in no way justifies what the NCAA did to Pearl, at least, not on the surface of it.