Wiedmer: Bruce Pearl grateful for second chance

photo Bruce Pearl

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - After three years of NCAA-imposed exile, Bruce Pearl is the only basketball coach in the country whose first media question upon his return would concern body paint.

Said Pearl without hesitation, "There's not enough paint in all of Auburn to paint this body right now."

And so it begins anew, the return of the Southeastern Conference's resident court jester and grease board wizard.

Not that Pearl seemed in much of a mood to crack wise at the league's preseason media event on Wednesday. This was a somber and contrite Pearl rather than a defiant, strident one.

Asked about the 36 months he spent away from coaching after losing his Tennessee gig for NCAA violations, he said, "The biggest thing I missed was the kids. I missed trying to make a difference in their lives."

Continuing that theme, he responded to a question about why he didn't remain in ESPN's studios as an analyst, where he was really good, rather than return to coaching as the boss of the Auburn Tigers, by saying, "At the end of a broadcasts, I knew I hadn't changed anybody's life."

Bruce Almighty even brought the ultimate Almighty One into the conversation, something he almost never did at UT.

"I don't know if I'm a better coach, but I know God has a greater presence in our locker room than ever before," Pearl said. "I believe God put this opportunity in front of me for a reason."

If ever a basketball program needed help from above, it's Auburn. While Tennessee has 20 NCAA Tournament appearances overall -- though none in the four years before Pearl arrived in 2006 -- the Tigers have gone just eight times total, and none since 2003.

Perhaps that's why the coach who took the Vols all the way to a No. 1 ranking in late February of 2008 said, "At Tennessee I inherited some talent, it just wasn't working together. At Auburn, the guys were well-coached, but out-manned."

Few teams have ever been better coached than his first UT team. An underachieving 14-17 the year before he arrived, Pearl guided the Vols to the NCAA tourney his first season, where they bowed out in the round of 32. By 2010 he had them in the Elite Eight, a level the Big Orange had never before reached.

But can he do the same at Auburn?

"Let's say I mention Charles Barkley," Pearl said of the most famous Tiger hoopster ever. "Now maybe you could trump me Michael Jordan. But then I come back with (AU alums) Bo Jackson. And Frank Thomas. And (golfer) Jason Duffner. And (baseball pitcher) Tim Hudson. I think I can sell that."

In fact, it's already working. Antoine Mason --the son of former NBA player and Tennessee State great Anthony Mason -- will bring his 26.5 scoring average from Niagara for his final season of college basketball.

"I look at (Pearl) as a legend," young Mason said. "I think he's reached the NCAA Tournament 17 of the 19 years he's coached. You could tell immediately how much he missed it."

In truth, nine of those NCAA bids were of the Division II variety during Pearl's time at Southern Indiana, but Mason's point is difficult to ignore. The man wins. And wins. And wins. Throw in enough charm and charisma to somehow convince Auburn's football fanatics to sell out the Tigers' first two home basketball games -- "That's never happened," said senior wing KT Harrell -- and it's easy to see why AU jumped at the chance to hire him and more than 35,000 UT fans signed an online petition to bring him back before Auburn stole him away.

Nor has he apparently abandoned his infamous shirtless look, body paint or no body paint.

"He took his shirt off at practice one day, but it wasn't in fun, he was upset," Mason said. "But it was funny later. And he did tell us, 'Don't worry, I'm not doing this again.'"

What he won't do when Auburn visits UT on Jan. 31 is slip into the orange blazer he once wore against Vanderbilt and Kentucky during his time with the Vols.

"I wore that jacket for Coach (Ray) Mears," Pearl said. "There's no chance I'll ever wear that jacket again."

As he returned to his time at Tennessee, to the six years that both made him and broke him, Pearl said of his first year there, "I wanted to gain Pat Summitt's respect."

If he can win at Auburn without NCAA issues, Pearl deserves the respect of the entire college basketball community.

Said Pearl without a smile or a smirk, "This is the greatest challenge of my career."

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.

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