Bruce Pearl, D-League Head Coach? Yahoo Says Maine Red Claws Courting Former Tennessee Volunteer

Bruce Pearl could be headed to the D-League as the next head coach of the Maine Red Claws, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.

This gels with my report earlier this week that the Red Claws were down to two finalists, one of which is believed to a current assistant with another NBA Development League team, but is still rather shocking. The Red Claws are currently the NBA D-League affiliates of both the Boston Celtics and Charlotte Bobcats.

Pearl, the former head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, was fired following the NCAA season after an investigation and could ultimately be banned from coaching in the college ranks for a couple of seasons a la Kelvin Sampson following his issues at Indiana. Sampson's now an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks, but can't return to the college sidelines until 2013.

This wouldn't be the first time that a D-League team has chosen to go with a former high-profile college coach as former Mizzou coach Quin Snyder found quite a bit of success with the Austin Toros before his call-up to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Red Claws are looking for a new head coach following Austin Ainge's call-up to the Boston Celtics as Director of Player Personnel.