UPDATED: Bruce Pearl out at Tennessee

According to Jeff Goodman -- and everyone else that knows these kind of things -- Bruce Pearl has been told by Tennessee Athletic Director Mike Hamilton that he has been fired. An announcement is expected this afternoon. Pearl will receive a buy out from the University.

This decision ends what has been a six month soap opera. It began back in September when Pearl admitted lying to the NCAA's investigators about a recruiting violation involving now-Ohio State point guard Aaron Craft. Pearl was fined over $1 million by the University already and missed eight SEC games this season.

The question now is who will replace Pearl?

Shaka Smart is a good candidate. Chris Mooney will probably be on everyone's wish list. I'm sure that Brad Stevens' run to the Sweet 16 has only made him even more of a high-major crush. Even Buzz Williams is bound to attract plenty of attention.

The problem? Tennessee is not a very good job right now. They have the NCAA bearing down, their AD could very well be on the way out the door right behind Pearl, they don't have a natural recruiting base, and next year's team will likely be without Scotty Hopson and Tobias Harris.

That's not an ideal job.

This post will be updated when an official announcement comes down.

UPDATE

Its official. Pearl is gone.

There isn't much in the statement made by Mike Hamilton that we don't already know, but they do mention a recruiting violation that was committed in March of 2011 which is, well, this month. No wonder he was shown the exit.

There are two things I am anxiously waiting for in this story. The first is what that March recruiting violation was. I wonder if it led to the change in attitude that the University has in regards to Pearl? (UPDATE: According to this report from ESPN -- which cites sources from Chris Low, who has connections all over Knoxville -- the violation that Pearl committed in March was procedural in nature and involved tickets the Vols gave out to their March 6th game against Kentucky. It also says that the non-NCAA related incident cited involved a substance-abuse policy violation by Brian Williams.)

The second is who actually sent the photo of Craft and Pearl to the NCAA? The word is that the photo showed up in an unmarked envelope, but I can't be the only that believes the NCAA knows who sent it.

The one thing that bothers me? Bruce Pearl gets slightly less than $1 million from the University as a settlement. His assistants, who got paid significantly less than Pearl did, only get four months worth of salary despite losing their jobs because their boss lied.

Here's the statement from AD Mike Hamilton:

"Today, we are announcing that we have reached an agreement with Bruce Pearl that will result in him and his immediate staff being relieved of their duties with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball program. This is a difficult day for many obvious reasons.

Six years ago, Bruce Pearl arrived on our campus and renewed hope in Tennessee Basketball. He, his staff, and our student-athletes have allowed us as administrators and fans to enjoy unprecedented success and many victories during that time. He has become a friend to many and has done tremendous work in our community.

Upon receipt of our NCAA Letter of Inquiry in September, we made the difficult decision to forego common national opinion and forge ahead with Bruce and his staff pending any further major infractions or issues that would preclude our basketball program from representing the University of Tennessee in the right manner.

The months that followed have been difficult on everyone – our staff, our coaches, our administration, our fans and, certainly, our young men. During this time, the dynamics of our case with the NCAA have evolved further, including additional violations committed on September 14 and in March 2011. The cumulative effect of the evolution of the investigation combined with a number of more recent non-NCAA-related incidents have led to a belief that this staff cannot be viable at Tennessee in the future. Therefore, it is in the best interests of our institution to move in a different direction.

We have included separation terms that will detail more clearly our role in the transition for Coach Pearl and his assistant coaches. In the meantime, we have named native Tennessean and a former head coach, Houston Fancher, as interim coach during our hiring process.

Our search process will begin immediately. This is a great job and will attract a significant number of interested coaches. Much of that interest is a tribute to what Coach Pearl has helped to build, but more importantly, what our fans have built. We will take an appropriate amount of time, but will move as swiftly as is effective to bring this to conclusion.

Lastly, I want to apologize to our fans for my untimely comments prior to last week's NCAA appearance. distraction to what has already been a year of distractions. While my comments were never intended for harm, they became an unneeded distraction to what has already been a year of distractions."

----- Terms of Agreement -----

• Head men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl will be paid at his current salary rate through June 30, 2011. He will also receive $50,000 per month for 12 months, from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012, and will also receive health insurance costs. This cumulative figure is $948,728.
• Additionally, the men’s basketball coaching staff will each be paid at their current salary rate through July 31, 2011.