Ahead of the curve on Scott Drew, Bruce Pearl

Coaches College Basketball On the Record32

As you watch(ed) the 2010 NCAA Tournament Regional Finals on Sunday, we thought we would take a quick look back to some past entries on the blog that had particular relevancy today.

First, let’s take a moment and draw your attention to this entry from April 15, 2009.

It is a good entry in general. But, on a day that Baylor is getting ready to play Duke for the opportunity to advance to the Final Four, I don’t mind tooting our horn and highlighting the following:

While we are discussing Baylor, can I just say Scott Drew to get it on the record now? This guy is going places.

An entire year ago as the Baylor Bears were heading into a season where they were to be chosen to finish 10th in the Big XII conference. But, we were giving you something to watch.

And…just to note…we didn’t stop there. If I may take a moment to highlight WHY you should be spending regular time on our Message Forums — it would be this detailed conversation on Scott Drew over three months ago.

Thank you for allowing us to indulge for a moment. We choose to be a little more ‘out there’ with opinion and perspective than you get from most of the more static sites that seem to be scared of their own shadows as it relates to forming an opinion. So, it is important to us to highlight some of our differentiating factors.

We also have noticed a big spike in visitors who are struggling with reading comprehension and drawing accurate conclusions even when they are clearly told something to the contrary. Just so we don’t get sideways on the topic of Scott Drew…please note that we are no endorsing him for anything.

One of the names I enjoy following has been Scott Drew at Baylor. If you are not familiar with the horrible mess that Drew inherited when he accepted the job then you should do a little researching & reading. (Forget for a moment that Waco, TX and the Baptist school of Baylor is one of the less fun and more miserable places on the face of the planet).

Now…please note I said that I enjoy following him; I did not say that I had necessarily held him in high regard. I just think he sits more in my realm of awareness because I lived in Texas at the time of the Dave Bliss scandal and I think it is fascinating that anyone would coach at Baylor, let alone be successful.

Secondly, in March of 2008 we took a similar look back at comments that Jeff made on the blog in 2005:

I’ve been watching Pearl and his program from the periphery over the last couple of years and have been more than just a little impressed with what I have seen. Therefore, I wanted to go on record as recognizing this as a great hire for UT. It will be interesting to watch their program develop.

For kicks…I will predict that within four years from today, the Tennessee basketball program will have very strong momentum after appearing in at least two consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and will be obviously established at the top of the 2nd tier of SEC Basketball schools just under Kentucky and Florida- a tier currently inhabited by Alabama, Mississippi State, and LSU.

Ok…maybe he hedged a little. As convinced as SFN was in Pearl’s ability to succeed, we admit that we cushioned more than was needed in our prediction of his success. Pearl is in his 5th season at Tennessee; and is currently participating in his fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament. He is 62-28 against SEC competition, compiling a winning record against every program in the conference except Kentucky.

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Coaches College Basketball On the Record

32 Responses to Ahead of the curve on Scott Drew, Bruce Pearl

  1. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 03/29/2010 at 10:42 AM #

    I love to watch NC State fans throw around all these names of people they want to come to NC State. Why the hell would either of these coaches come to NC State?

    So that they can have their names and reputations tarnished daily on the fan websites. Calls for being fired after every loss? Why would they not just stay were they are and enjoy positive fans and alumni support?

    The schools they are at have far better basketball programs and fan support than NC State. NC State doesn’t get ‘hot’ coaches, never have and probably never will.

  2. BJD95 03/29/2010 at 11:13 AM #

    I do think that if Tom O’Brien fails here, it would indeed make NC State a “hard sell” for up and coming football coaches who have multiple options. You would have to dig a little deeper, for sure. That’s because O’Brien is widely considered one of the top coaches in America by knowledgeable football people.

    The same is NOT true for basketball. Lowe is most certainly not well regarded in the coaching/athletic director community (at least on the college level), in terms of aptitude or work ethic. If he fails at NC State, he will never sniff another college job again. Yes, our school’s reputation and national standing will have taken a hit after 5 years of sucking – but nobody is going to be scared off because Sidney Lowe couldn’t get it done. That’s for sure.

    And no, Sendek does NOT earn the same respect that O’Brien does. He’s just a really good self-promoter, and uses existing friendships to that end.

  3. BJD95 03/29/2010 at 11:33 AM #

    Please allow me to clarify – the hoops equivalent of the TOB hire would have been Mike Montgomery – an older, very well-respected (but not elite) coach, probably at his last stop. Had we hired Monty and he failed like Lowe is on track to do – yes, it would hurt our program’s reputation.

  4. ruffles31 03/29/2010 at 12:25 PM #

    I have said to many people that Pearl would be a great coach here. The problem was that when his stock was the highest, it was one year too early for State. Had we been on a coaching searching in 2005 instead of 2006, I bet we would have Pearl as our head coach. He would make Williams and K upset and would have cranked up the rivalries for sure. His trapping and helter skelter defense would create bigtime headaches for the ACC coaches. He runs a good flex offense like Gary Williams. He and Calipari are not the best of friends and throw one liners at each other. For instance, after Tennessee beat LSU this year in the SEC Tournament, when asked about his team’s awful 3-point shooting (something like 3-20), he said that it was awful and that it was like watching Kentucky shoot 3 pointers.

    Loved it. He has made UT basketball relevant nationally for really the first time (at least in the past 30 years). He always describes himself as the second-best basketball coach on campus (behind Pat Summitt).

    He has a top 5 recruiting class coming in next year. They will be a force to reckon with as long as he is there. Tennessee has had 6 Sweet 16 appearances in their history (4 that required 2 wins to get there). Pearl now has 3 in the past 4 years, and the school’s first Elite 8 appearance. And they were a FT away from the school’s first Final 4 appearance.

    But I guess the stars didn’t align for the Wolfpack.

  5. whitefang 03/29/2010 at 12:28 PM #

    “The schools they are at have far better basketball programs and fan support than NC State”
    Huh? The NCAA hasn’t posted 2010 basketball attendance yet, but in 2009 NC State (as bad as we were) was 21st in the country. Baylor was 78th and Butler was 91st and no their arenas, while smaller than ours, were not at capacity. In fact Butler as just over 50%.

  6. MP 03/29/2010 at 12:29 PM #

    Scott Drew may be the “next big thing”, but yesterday his very talented team was beaten by a tough-minded team with a great coach. He’s still got something to prove in my book. (As does Calipari, IN MY OPINION).

  7. Wolfy__79 03/29/2010 at 10:31 PM #

    ^agreed mp

    ^^also agree with you whitefang. i credit NC STATE in having one of the best fan bases i’ve seen. dedicated and knowledgable in all sports… even bass fishing! for what we go through and stick around, i think that warrants just a little respect.

    ^calapari has failed once again. i’m not going to give him credit for having his “young” team there again.. b/c it’s the same thing over and over. he’ll have bledsoe and cj leslie or cothron next year with the rest of the supporting cast next year and probably do the same. he hasn’t proved otherwise.

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