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Can't help myself...

Jul 21, 2015
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I like Bruce Pearl. Just got finished watching his pre-UK press conference, and as always, he was very respectful towards UK, the fans, the team, Rupp Arena, etc. I've always liked the way he coaches and wouldn't have been upset at all if UK had hired him. Not that I'm not thrilled w/ how it ended up, but if Drew had accepted Barnhart's offer, I would have been...disgruntled...that he was offered and not Pearl.
 
I like Bruce Pearl. Just got finished watching his pre-UK press conference, and as always, he was very respectful towards UK, the fans, the team, Rupp Arena, etc. I've always liked the way he coaches and wouldn't have been upset at all if UK had hired him. Not that I'm not thrilled w/ how it ended up, but if Drew had accepted Barnhart's offer, I would have been...disgruntled...that he was offered and not Pearl.
Can you post link?
 
I've always liked the way he coaches and wouldn't have been upset at all if UK had hired him. Not that I'm not thrilled w/ how it ended up, but if Drew had accepted Barnhart's offer, I would have been...disgruntled...that he was offered and not Pearl.

I completely agree. If Mitch would have hired the vanilla Drew over Bruce it wouldn't have settled well for me anyways. I'm still surprised Pearl hasn't won a title. I believe this to be his year obviously.
 
I’ve always felt that he was one of very few coaches that could coach and recruit at a high level and also has that charisma. Most older coaches don’t have the charisma and most younger don’t have the track record yet. I felt when we hired Cal and all thru his tenure that Pearl was the coach that compared most to him
 
I like Pearl. Great coach, and seems to love the game and the fans. Also, he one of the few guys out there built for the UK job. I love Pope being at UK, but do enjoy Pearl being a big fish in college basketball. He's much more likeable at Auburn than he was at Tennessee.
 
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I like Pearl. Great coach, and seems to love the game and the fans. Also, he one of the few guys out there built for the UK job. I love Pope being at UK, but do enjoy Pearl being a big fish in college basketball. He's much more likeable at Auburn than he was at Tennessee.
Tbf, ANY coach is more likable when they are not at EweTee.
 
I've always liked the way he coaches and wouldn't have been upset at all if UK had hired him. Not that I'm not thrilled w/ how it ended up, but if Drew had accepted Barnhart's offer, I would have been...disgruntled...that he was offered and not Pearl.

I completely agree. If Mitch would have hired the vanilla Drew over Bruce it wouldn't have settled well for me anyways. I'm still surprised Pearl hasn't won a title. I believe this to be his year obviously.
He did win a D2 title at USI
 
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He did win a D2 title at USI
Yeah i forgot about that happening. It only reinforces my beliefs that Bruce has connections in Indiana. And Pearl would feast off of Indiana's deep recruiting base to return IU basketball to glory if his name is called. I terribly do not want this to ever happen!
 
I like Bruce Pearl. Just got finished watching his pre-UK press conference, and as always, he was very respectful towards UK, the fans, the team, Rupp Arena, etc. I've always liked the way he coaches and wouldn't have been upset at all if UK had hired him. Not that I'm not thrilled w/ how it ended up, but if Drew had accepted Barnhart's offer, I would have been...disgruntled...that he was offered and not Pearl.

I agree with you completely, and I think it’s important that your last sentence is not forgotten. We tend to glorify Mitch for the Pope hire, and he definitely deserves credit. It was a ballsy move at a time when most fans wanted a proven winner. And for that reason alone, I don’t necessarily fault him for going after Drew. The man does have a title after all. But to go after him over Pearl was, in my view, an egregious mistake that we’re very lucky did not cost us. Frankly I’m kind of appalled at the contrast between how quickly Scott Drew knew he was not a fit for the Kentucky brand, and how long he was Mitch’s main guy.
 
Yeah i forgot about that happening. It only reinforces my beliefs that Bruce has connections in Indiana. And Pearl would feast off of Indiana's deep recruiting base to return IU basketball to glory if his name is called. I terribly do not want this to ever happen!
He’s a great coach. His players love him.

But he had made a ton of enemies in college basketball circles.
 
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He’s a great coach. His players love him.

But he had made a ton of enemies in college basketball circles.
People don’t like being ratted on! I don’t know if he did or not, but it’s been said he turned certain programs in to the NCAA! Whoever knows. He’s not been exactly squeaky clean!
 
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I like the guy, doesn't ever do much in the tournament tho, outside 1 final four (tho it's at a historical bottom feeder)

Also, not the best at adjustments. Calipari literally ran the exact same play every time down the floor last year against them.

Has gotten better defensively. His UT teams played zero defense
 
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