KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Coach Bruce Pearl said details of NCAA violations made public in a letter released Friday were not new to him or investigators.
The university on Friday released a Sept. 9 letter from Athletics Director Mike Hamilton informing Pearl his contract would be terminated because he knowingly violated NCAA rules.
“Everything we’re dealing with is stuff that we’ve known about for a long time,” Pearl said.
The letter states Pearl told men’s basketball recruits and their families that a visit to his home for a team cookout would be an NCAA violation. He also told the recruits and their families he would not tell anyone about the violation and asked that they not tell anyone.
Tennessee is under investigation by the NCAA because of that encounter and because of other potential violations, including excessive phone calls made by Pearl and his staff to recruits, and coaches signing off on official visits made by recruits to Knoxville that were longer than allowed by the NCAA.
Hamilton punished Pearl after the coach acknowledged misleading NCAA investigators about the cookout he hosted by docking his salary by $1.5 million over four seasons and banning him from off-campus recruiting for a year.
“This is something that we’re going to have to get through,” Pearl said. “We’ll have our time in front of the [NCAA] Committee on Infractions when the time comes. We’ll deal with the challenges. I think this will die down.”
During a June 14 interview, Pearl denied to investigators that a photo of him and recruit Aaron Craft was made at his home and claimed not to know the identity of a woman in the photo. He later informedthe NCAA, Hamilton and University of Tennessee Chancellor Jimmy Cheek that the photo was taken at his home and that the woman was the wife of longtime assistant Jason Shay.
Pearl also acknowledged phoning the father of one of the prospects who attended the Sept. 20, 2008, cookout before and after his June 14 interview to “remind” him that he and his son had chosen to attend.
“At the very least, your calls to the father created the appearance that you were trying to influence the father’s statements to the NCAA,” Hamilton wrote in the letter.
“Based on the facts described [in the letter], Chancellor Cheek and I have determined that you engaged in gross misconduct, including dishonesty and other acts involving intolerable behavior,” Hamilton wrote in the letter.
Pearl’s employment contract was officially terminated Oct. 8. Hamilton said lawyers are working to finalize a new contract for Pearl that will reflect his lowered salary, but until then Pearl is working as an “at-will” employee and could be fired or resign at any time without penalty.
Sports, Pages 23 on 10/23/2010