It's that time of year: College coach carousel!

And if I am not mistaken, the commissioner of the Big East is a Providence guy

 

Two big differences. Pearl is much older than any of those guys were when they got blacklisted (VBK might have been around the same age, 50). Bozeman was in his late 20s/early 30s when he got the boot at Cal, right? All those guys had time on their side to lie low and allow most people to forget what they'd done.

And none of those guys were rats. You can be a liar, you can cheat day and night like Floyd, you can be a sleazebag like Eustachy, and someone will always give you another chance. But if you're a rat fink, and THEN you cheat and lie about it, forget it. There are 345 other schools enjoying your comeuppance.

It took Pearl 12 years after the Illinois incident to get his first D-I HC job. Figure it'll be at least that long, with show-cause penalties and his previous rep, before anyone even thinks of giving him another look. By that point he'll be 62. Goodbye, Bruce, hope you enjoy TV.

 

UT is second to Kentucky in SEC mens basketball and third isn't close? How do you figure? The Vols are tied with Bama for third in league titles. (LSU is second) They are third behind UK and Bama in league tournament titles. Six different schools from the league have Final 4 appearances, none of them UT. And Arkansas and Florida have national titles.

 

Speaking as someone living in Rhode Island, they will have to boot PC out of the Big East kicking and screaming. Heck, they've talked about dropping their yearly rivalry game with URI because they view themselves as being above that.

To me, the PC job is really tough, but someone will take it because it'll be an upgrade from whatever pay they're getting at a mid-major or as an assistant at a big program. Regardless, I don't think the person will stay there unless they struggle, a la Tim Welsh.

Like any other Big East program, just being in the Big East means you can recruit some decent players, but the Providence arena isn't particularly nice or anything. It's pretty cavernous and multi-purpose, with hockey games providing better sightlines.

 

I thought Tim Welsh actually wasn't horrible and had some decent teams and players.

 

He did, but he made the mistake of staying too long. I covered a game there in his last year, and the "fire Welch!" chants must've started right after halftime.

As for PC thinking it's above URI, at this point that's debatable, especially with the Ryan Center now open. I don't think the Civic Center is much of the problem for PC. You're trying to recruit mostly city kids to a small, private school campus in a cool but not electric city. In a day where schools are dropping $10M for practice facilities -- doesn't PC still practice at Alumni Hall? -- they're outmatched.

 

The Big East is as much of a hinderance as it is a draw. There are so many teams in the conference that if a kid is decent, he could probably get a scholarship anywhere in the conference. Maybe you could get a New England kid who wants to stay home, play in the Big East and be in an urban environment, but that's about it.

 

Why would they worry about those recruits making it? All but one signed early.

 

Believe Bozeman spent some eight years in purgatory prior to his current gig -- a gig where he's buried pretty deep, and which he doesn't seem to be handling all that well, in terms of public PR.

Pearl's a TV natural.

 

Too much, given the market -- and given the fact that with that system and Columbia's talent-drawing power, there's a glass ceiling vis a vis just how good they're ever going to get.

 

Kent was a horrible game coach in Eugene. Just horrible.

 

Pearl was the most successful of any of the coaches we have listed (Eustachy probably comes closest). If Pearl's show cause is three years or less, someone will grab him up after it is done. To an AD, winning and selling tickets are what matters most. And Pearl will be able to do that. He did it at Southern Indiana, he did it at Milwaukee and he did it at Tennessee and each of those schools was a non-entity in their own community when he came along.

If I didn't think Pearl was looking down the barrel of a show cause, I'd say he is perfect for Fresno. A school with a bit of an outlaw image, looking for a way to get the fans excited...