Bruce Pearl Looks Good In Crimson

While Anthony Grant was busy finding new and innovative ways to lose basketball games Saturday night, a small crowd in Coleman Coliseum decided to send a message. Finally fed up with a man who cannot coach & has the roster management abilities of my granny, they began to chant, "We Want Bruce!"...  It's about dang time, y'all!!!  Two years ago I jumped on the Bruce Pearl to Alabama bandwagon. I won't lie. It was a lonely ride for quite awhile.  Pearl's NCAA show-cause penalty had most fans reacting to my grassroots campaign about as well as a man named Tom trying to sell you a suit.  But the Tide's turning, my Bama brethren.  Recently, there has been a groundswell of support for kicking Grant to the curb & hiring the prodigal Pearl.  And contrary to what the naysayers will tell you, hiring Bruce Pearl is a very real possibility.

First of all, what are the restrictions surrounding Bruce Pearl exactly?  A show cause penalty -- usually with set duration -- may be handed down for a variety of reasons, but is most often used for coaches who commit NCAA violations relating to recruiting.  Any school wishing to hire a coach under a "show cause" designation must appear before the NCAA infractions committee and potentially face new sanctions.  Even though a university can hire a coach slapped with a show-cause, it is the equivalent to getting blackballed from coaching during the designated period. Because I detailed how Pearl was screwed by the NCAA in an earlier post, let's just focus on 397,451 reasons why hiring him is such a genius move.

Reason #1:  Our program sucks.  We could rehash how much suckage has surrounded this program during Grant's tenure, but I don't feel like crying tonight.  Just know this:  Tony Barbee owns us. And there's a pretty substantial list of high schools that man couldn't beat.  But he owns our ass.  Anthony Grant has had 5 chances to show this fanbase if he has a vision.  And he clearly is blind as a bat.

Reason #2:  This is a football school.  Aside from coaching, what made Wimp Sanderson so successful was his ability to sell the program.  When you're the ugly friend, you have to be really outgoing.  That's life.   Anthony Grant couldn't sell Auburn a 5 star recruit. On the other hand, Pearl's involvement in the community was downright astonishing.  Even after Pearl was fired at UT, he remained a Knoxville resident who worked hard fundraising for several philanthropies.  He is a force of life that knows how to win.  Most importantly, his coaching skills are respected.  Like Saban in football, he will get the edge during seeding because everyone knows he's a damn good coach.

Reason #3:  The NCAA.  They've been castrated & I foresee them being extinct sooner rather than later.  Not that Emmert would ever do anything to piss off Saban.  Furthermore, don't be the person who screams from the rooftops about how clean this program is only to shoot down hiring Pearl because "you don't want the NCAA snooping around".  Plus, I'd bet major cash nobody thought we'd ever hire Kiffin.  Saban knows what's up...  And it isn't the basketball program.

Reason #4:  Keep The Enemy Close.  You do realize that come March, there are going to be a lot, including SEC, programs slobbering over him, right?  Everyone realizes how unfair his sentence was.  And more importantly, everyone knows how good he is & they wanna win.  I guarantee you that stigma will dissipate when he shows this fanbase Bama Basketball can be great again!  Plus, Knoxville would have a record breaking meltdown.  Isn't that reason enough?

Tomorrow is National Nick Saban Day. aka. National Football Signing Day.  Only 15 recruits have gained recognition as being '5 stars'.  Bama is slated to sign 5 of them.  In case you are bad at math, that is one-third of the most elite players to play the game.  So ask yourself this:  If Bama is capable of pulling in the best football recruiting class ever, can't the basketball program at least be competitive?  At the very least, Saban needs somewhere besides Chuck's Fishhouse to take recruits in January...  If coal can make a diamond, surely this program can figure out how to turn Grant into a Pearl...

Don't think you can't affect change!  If you are ready for Anthony Grant to go, let Bill Battle know your feelings.  One voice matters...  bbattle@ia.ua.edu



Thanks for stopping by, y'all!!! Roll Tide! Roll Pearl!