After seeing piece after piece and tweet after tweet over the years it gets tiring and frustrating when journalist take the easy route and bash caches seen as dirty and leave the Saints of sports alone. (John wooden, Dean Smith, Coach K) So after reading yet another slam article on a coach, this one on Bruce Pearl I decided to write a rebuttal to it. Our coach goes through this all the time also where it’s easy to mention Cal and final fours vacated even though others have done much worst with no vacation and Cal himself isn’t even implemented in those cases! So here is some information to combat the Pearl is trash narrative the media would like you to get behind. Also I am no Scholar so there may be grammatical errors or misspelling or the ramblings of a guy who is clearly not a professional so bare with me: on to the rebuttal:
Rebuttal to USA Today’s article: Auburn’s Bruce Pearl symbolizes the rot in college athletics.
I miss the days of real journalism, pieces that made you feel good and maybe even think a little bit. Today it is so easy just to drum up some status quo article repeating a national narrative that the average person will read and think it’s great work. Just over the past week national writers (Dennis Dodd, Nancy Armour) have grabbed some low-hanging fruit and put out slam tweets, or a slam article depicting how John Calipari, Kelvin Sampson and Bruce Pearl dirty up the NCAA waters and promote the controversy throughout their careers. (See source 1) In unsurprising news no writer in America wants to write anything of substance when discussing corruption in today’s game, because at the heart of that would be the Sanctimonious King of NCAA, Coach K himself, but that is a story for another day. How about someone bring light to the good stories these games, coaches and players bring us. Give America something to get behind and believe in instead of just throw dirt on people who already received punishment for their crimes and in Cal’s case was never named in any wrongdoing whatsoever. I’m no national writer, even received a D in my college English class, but here is my attempt of changing some narrative surrounding this March Madness and mr. Bruce Pearl.
Let’s divulge into Ms. Armour’s story on how Bruce Pearl symbolizes the rot in College Basketball. Her article points out the controversy in Pearl’s career and how those would “torpedo the career of most any other coach.” Up first on his list of transgressions involves recording a phone conversation with a recruit to incriminate another school. A player commits to Iowa back in the late 1980’s then all the sudden decides to break that pledge and go with Illinois, which would upset any coach in Iowa’s staff especially assistant Bruce Pearl. Instead of just accepting this Coach Pearl decided to get to the bottom of this and when he did he caught the recruit on the phone admitting to accepting $80,000 in cash and a Chevy Blazer for his pledge to Illinois. (Source 2) While this is certainly an offense that got him black-balled in the Big 10 and many coaching circles in his early career, it’s a far cry from something that would bring upon NCAA issues. In contrary the NCAA should reward whistle blowing coaches and the true “rot” in college basketball may have not presented itself in the last few years. In fact if a coach would have come forward about this years class it is highly unlikely the toast of the NCAA himself, Zion Williamson would even be participating. (Unless you are in the blissfully ignorant majority of America that believes while Kansas was willing to break the bank to bring Zion to campus he changed his mind and decided to attend DUKE for free, a simple check in on the family living situation now would take a real reporter probably 30 minutes to find some real issues here.) (Source 3) So in reality Ms. Armour’s first point actually shows exactly why we need a whistle blower in order to fix the mess in the college game, not derail the early career of a man trying to expose the truth.
On to the second part of the story, a good old fashioned bbq. Well I can’t even begin to defend Pearl’s actions here honestly, he lied to NCAA investigators and instructed his coaches to do the same, (Source 4) so clearly a problem. I do have a few points to speak to on this part however, the photo in question exposes the original point that Nancy bashed Pearl for, turning in someone for wrongdoing. So why is it an event that should derail his career but if another coach, player or person does it than it is ok? The picture was said to of come anonymously to the NCAA through US mail so that raises some red flags to me. For it to be a personal picture it would seem to of had to come directly from the Craft family themselves or a member of a coaching staff that was also recruiting him or had him on their team. How come this is not an issue like it was when Bruce Pearl called out a coach for $80,000 and a car? Seems like the first point you made would now be moot if you decide to emphasize your second point, but that’s not all.
The man received a three year show cause penalty for his violations. He was caught, eventually admitted to his faults and served his punishment. Three years of his prime was taken away due to his infractions of the NCAA rules. I would say that would be at least a small torpedo to Pearl’s career, but he had the resiliency to come back, and come back stronger. America has always loved a come back story, someone who fails or makes bad personal decisions but then comes back and wins the prize they have always been after. Why can’t we write a piece about that? About the passion Pearl has for the game, for his players and for coaching and how he made some mistakes but has battled his demons and is one game away from playing in the biggest stage of them all for college hoops, probably because that might take effort, maybe a little heart and wouldn’t be as easy as a slam piece would be.
I suppose the last piece of the puzzle would be pretty damning also, if Bruce Pearl was involved. It appears as though his assistants broke some rules and it cost them dearly, according to the NCAA Bruce himself did nothing wrong or he would have been punished along with his players. I see the FBI probe and suspensions following for Auburn players as another redemption story. Players stuck in controversy but paid their price and now are back to prove they were worth the money, cause we know Zion certainly was. Also Auburn must have missed the NCAA Infractions committee for dummies book written by UNC, never self report, deny, deny, deflect and spend $20 million to avoid penalty. How many other programs would also be the “rot” of college basketball if they self reported? I definitely need to see that Bill Self article asap, Sean Miller, Mark Gottfried, Jim Laranega and the late Rick Pitino also should be featured soon.
I do agree that there does seem to be a lot of smoke around Mr. Pearl but for the one infraction he personally committed he served his time. I don’t see many coaches with as much passion, heart and care for his players as Pearl. After the win against UNC when asked about his injured player you could see the raw emotion and sadness for him in Bruce Pearls teary eyes. On the other side of the bracket is the greatest coach of all time, that also has a lot of smoke around him with regards to NCAA infractions, but the tears he creates are through upset parents like Joy Ojeleya, (Source 5) I doubt we see a piece about him this weekend in any negative light though.
In closing If you think Bruce Pearl is rotten for College basketball and want to write a piece on that because it’s easy and most people will agree with you then good for you, but if you want to be a real journalist and get to the actual problem I can give you some direction. Let’s get someone that really has the ability and presence to do a piece on the problem. If Bruce Pearl is rotten than this man is the manure of college athletics that has already decomposed and fertilized the issues that caused the cesspool that required the FBI to clean up, one Mark Emmert and the selective enforcement that has reigned under his regime. I could give you examples but that story is for another day, or maybe you could write it since you are interested in slam pieces, at least this man would deserve it, a man who has been in charge during the most corrupt time in College sports as they bring in Billions of dollars in revenue on the backs of “amateur athletes.”
Sources
Source 1: Nancy Armour slam piece
Armour
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/3301783002
Source 2:Wiretap to catch Illinois in 89
https://www.rockmnation.com/platfor...souri-purdue-illinois-deon-thomas-bruce-pearl
Source 3: Zion for sale?
https://www.cbssports.com/college-b...-williamson-and-thats-a-problem-for-duke/amp/
Source 4: BBQ infractions piece
https://247sports.com/college/tenne...ews-that-sank-Bruce-Pearl-at-Tennessee-32452/
Source 5: Crying mom
https://amp.newsobserver.com/sports/article210414029.html
Rebuttal to USA Today’s article: Auburn’s Bruce Pearl symbolizes the rot in college athletics.
I miss the days of real journalism, pieces that made you feel good and maybe even think a little bit. Today it is so easy just to drum up some status quo article repeating a national narrative that the average person will read and think it’s great work. Just over the past week national writers (Dennis Dodd, Nancy Armour) have grabbed some low-hanging fruit and put out slam tweets, or a slam article depicting how John Calipari, Kelvin Sampson and Bruce Pearl dirty up the NCAA waters and promote the controversy throughout their careers. (See source 1) In unsurprising news no writer in America wants to write anything of substance when discussing corruption in today’s game, because at the heart of that would be the Sanctimonious King of NCAA, Coach K himself, but that is a story for another day. How about someone bring light to the good stories these games, coaches and players bring us. Give America something to get behind and believe in instead of just throw dirt on people who already received punishment for their crimes and in Cal’s case was never named in any wrongdoing whatsoever. I’m no national writer, even received a D in my college English class, but here is my attempt of changing some narrative surrounding this March Madness and mr. Bruce Pearl.
Let’s divulge into Ms. Armour’s story on how Bruce Pearl symbolizes the rot in College Basketball. Her article points out the controversy in Pearl’s career and how those would “torpedo the career of most any other coach.” Up first on his list of transgressions involves recording a phone conversation with a recruit to incriminate another school. A player commits to Iowa back in the late 1980’s then all the sudden decides to break that pledge and go with Illinois, which would upset any coach in Iowa’s staff especially assistant Bruce Pearl. Instead of just accepting this Coach Pearl decided to get to the bottom of this and when he did he caught the recruit on the phone admitting to accepting $80,000 in cash and a Chevy Blazer for his pledge to Illinois. (Source 2) While this is certainly an offense that got him black-balled in the Big 10 and many coaching circles in his early career, it’s a far cry from something that would bring upon NCAA issues. In contrary the NCAA should reward whistle blowing coaches and the true “rot” in college basketball may have not presented itself in the last few years. In fact if a coach would have come forward about this years class it is highly unlikely the toast of the NCAA himself, Zion Williamson would even be participating. (Unless you are in the blissfully ignorant majority of America that believes while Kansas was willing to break the bank to bring Zion to campus he changed his mind and decided to attend DUKE for free, a simple check in on the family living situation now would take a real reporter probably 30 minutes to find some real issues here.) (Source 3) So in reality Ms. Armour’s first point actually shows exactly why we need a whistle blower in order to fix the mess in the college game, not derail the early career of a man trying to expose the truth.
On to the second part of the story, a good old fashioned bbq. Well I can’t even begin to defend Pearl’s actions here honestly, he lied to NCAA investigators and instructed his coaches to do the same, (Source 4) so clearly a problem. I do have a few points to speak to on this part however, the photo in question exposes the original point that Nancy bashed Pearl for, turning in someone for wrongdoing. So why is it an event that should derail his career but if another coach, player or person does it than it is ok? The picture was said to of come anonymously to the NCAA through US mail so that raises some red flags to me. For it to be a personal picture it would seem to of had to come directly from the Craft family themselves or a member of a coaching staff that was also recruiting him or had him on their team. How come this is not an issue like it was when Bruce Pearl called out a coach for $80,000 and a car? Seems like the first point you made would now be moot if you decide to emphasize your second point, but that’s not all.
The man received a three year show cause penalty for his violations. He was caught, eventually admitted to his faults and served his punishment. Three years of his prime was taken away due to his infractions of the NCAA rules. I would say that would be at least a small torpedo to Pearl’s career, but he had the resiliency to come back, and come back stronger. America has always loved a come back story, someone who fails or makes bad personal decisions but then comes back and wins the prize they have always been after. Why can’t we write a piece about that? About the passion Pearl has for the game, for his players and for coaching and how he made some mistakes but has battled his demons and is one game away from playing in the biggest stage of them all for college hoops, probably because that might take effort, maybe a little heart and wouldn’t be as easy as a slam piece would be.
I suppose the last piece of the puzzle would be pretty damning also, if Bruce Pearl was involved. It appears as though his assistants broke some rules and it cost them dearly, according to the NCAA Bruce himself did nothing wrong or he would have been punished along with his players. I see the FBI probe and suspensions following for Auburn players as another redemption story. Players stuck in controversy but paid their price and now are back to prove they were worth the money, cause we know Zion certainly was. Also Auburn must have missed the NCAA Infractions committee for dummies book written by UNC, never self report, deny, deny, deflect and spend $20 million to avoid penalty. How many other programs would also be the “rot” of college basketball if they self reported? I definitely need to see that Bill Self article asap, Sean Miller, Mark Gottfried, Jim Laranega and the late Rick Pitino also should be featured soon.
I do agree that there does seem to be a lot of smoke around Mr. Pearl but for the one infraction he personally committed he served his time. I don’t see many coaches with as much passion, heart and care for his players as Pearl. After the win against UNC when asked about his injured player you could see the raw emotion and sadness for him in Bruce Pearls teary eyes. On the other side of the bracket is the greatest coach of all time, that also has a lot of smoke around him with regards to NCAA infractions, but the tears he creates are through upset parents like Joy Ojeleya, (Source 5) I doubt we see a piece about him this weekend in any negative light though.
In closing If you think Bruce Pearl is rotten for College basketball and want to write a piece on that because it’s easy and most people will agree with you then good for you, but if you want to be a real journalist and get to the actual problem I can give you some direction. Let’s get someone that really has the ability and presence to do a piece on the problem. If Bruce Pearl is rotten than this man is the manure of college athletics that has already decomposed and fertilized the issues that caused the cesspool that required the FBI to clean up, one Mark Emmert and the selective enforcement that has reigned under his regime. I could give you examples but that story is for another day, or maybe you could write it since you are interested in slam pieces, at least this man would deserve it, a man who has been in charge during the most corrupt time in College sports as they bring in Billions of dollars in revenue on the backs of “amateur athletes.”
Sources
Source 1: Nancy Armour slam piece
Armour
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/3301783002
Source 2:Wiretap to catch Illinois in 89
https://www.rockmnation.com/platfor...souri-purdue-illinois-deon-thomas-bruce-pearl
Source 3: Zion for sale?
https://www.cbssports.com/college-b...-williamson-and-thats-a-problem-for-duke/amp/
Source 4: BBQ infractions piece
https://247sports.com/college/tenne...ews-that-sank-Bruce-Pearl-at-Tennessee-32452/
Source 5: Crying mom
https://amp.newsobserver.com/sports/article210414029.html
![[roll]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/roll.r191677.gif "roll [roll]")
