Now It’s Bruce Pearl’s Turn

Tennessee Coach Bruce Pearl has accepted an extension that is supposed to keep him with the Volunteers until 2014.

Pearl is another very good if not great coach who got the raise and promotion he deserves. He led his team to the number one ranking last season (although it lasted as long as it did to write this post). Tennessee won the South Eastern Conference and reached the regional semifinals. The Tennessee men’s program still has a long way to go, but it is starting to come out of the shadows of its better-known women’s program.

I hate beating a dead horse, but remember, this is the same Bruce Pearl who all but accepted the Indiana University job in April. He even called it his “Dream Job,” and now he accepts an extension to stay at Tennessee?

According to reports, “should Pearl, 48, leave Tennessee in the next year, his buyout would cost $2.5 million – a figure that will decrease incrementally over the next four years to $1 million.”

I just don’t get Athletic Directors and university presidents who lock coaches into long term contracts when the lure of better jobs and the NBA is as strong as it is to the players they coach.