It's a sad thing to say, but I think I'm tired of Bruce Pearl, at least regarding his new job possibly being in the NBA Development League. This isn't to say that I won't be excited when his name brings more eyeballs to the D-League or even that I'll be disappointed if he ultimately does end up as the next head coach of the Texas Legends, just that I wish something would happen, regardless.
Pearl was first mentioned as a possible head coach for the Maine Red Claws on May 20 -- a job he turned down, according to multiple sources -- and has somehow managed to stay relevant to the Ridiculous Upside readers by way of the Legends' current courting session.
So today, when I realized that Ridiculous Upside was picking up hits relating to the former Tennessee Volunteers coach, I was hopeful that he'd announced his intentions, either way, regarding a D-League coaching stint for the upcoming season. Instead, he's back in the news because the NCAA has decided to further sanction him and his former staff.
The sanctions, known as a show-cause penalty, as explained by Wikipedia:
An order saying that a coach involved in major rules violations at a university's athletic program may not be hired by any other NCAA member institutions without permission from the Infractions Committee for a set period of time. If a university seeks to hire such a coach, they must "show cause" as to why they should not be penalized for hiring him.
Basically, it's going to be quite hard for Pearl to find a new college coaching job anytime soon. With his NBA options -- which are probably there considering Kelvin Sampson made the jump under similar circumstances -- limited by the NBA lockout, it seems the D-League is as good of an option as any.
And, as is now imperative when talking about Pearl, there was mention of the D-League as well in ESPN's write-up of the report. ESPN's Andy Katz was able to come through with a quote from the coach regarding the possibility of moving to Frisco this fall (It's essentially the same quote we've published on Ridiculous Upside three times already for the tl;dr crowd).
"(Dallas Mavericks general manager) Donnie Nelson has been just tremendous and provided me with the opportunity," Pearl said earlier Tuesday. "I've always seen myself as a college coach, because it is developing young players and I can see making that transition. The hardest thing for me right now, however, is that I would have to leave my children here in Knoxville. And that's the hardest thing about taking the opportunity."
Considering Pearl's not going to be able to coach in the NCAA in the near future without a fight, and that his other reported job opportunity in television would also cause significant travel, I'm not sure exactly what the hold up is ... I just hope it ends sooner rather than later -- We have random free agents to write about instead of college coaching scandals!