Bruce Pearl
by M. Stephen Brown
March, 2005--For University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's men's basketball coach and New England native, Bruce Pearl, life just keeps getting sweeter. Not only did Pearl's Panthers win their second consecutive Horizon League Championship title -- their second since he took over the team four years ago-- but they also made the most of their invitation to this year's NCAA tournament by advancing their way through the brackets and into the school's first ever Sweet 16 appearance.
Getting to the Sweet 16 was no easy feat; paired off in the first round against the heavily favored Alabama Crimson Tide, Pearl's team showed early signs that they would be this year's Cinderella story as they surprisingly dominated an otherwise strong Alabama team throughout the tourney opener, beating the Tide, 83-73, to advance to the second round.
For Pearl, a graduate of Boston College and former Eagles assistant men's basketball coach, the Panthers' second round match up against BC was nothing short of historic. Not only was it the first time in Pearl's 11 years as a collegiate head coach that he had gotten the opportunity to square off against his alma mater, but it appears that this was the first time in NCAA history that a former team mascot had come back to face its former team in a post season tournament game, and win!
Yes, Pearl did several stints as the Eagle's team mascot while an undergraduate at Boston College.
The 83-75 win over top-ranked BC put Pearl and his Panthers directly in the national spotlight and it helped solidify them as not only legitimate spoilers, but also as an up and coming mid-major Division I program.
And despite his team eventually losing to top-seeded Illinois, in the third round, Pearl's accomplishments as a head coach are nothing short of outstanding.
Since making his Division I head coaching debut, Pearl has put together an impressive 296-72 record. But perhaps even more impressive, Pearl presently boasts a 37-11 conference record within the Horizon League and has the best all-time winning percentage of any coach in the league. He has led his Panthers team directly into the record books at both the school and league levels.
Recently chosen as one of ten finalists for the Jim Phelan Nation coach of the Year award, Pearl's success places him in good company.
"I don't normally get caught up in coach of the year honors," he recently explained to a group of reporters, "but this one is special. When I saw the names of the nine other guys I realized I was in special company. But most important was the name on the award. Jim Phelan represented all that is good about this game for half a century. It's a real honor.
Pearl, who grew up in a Reform Jewish household in Sharon, Massachusetts, credits much of his success to "Jewish guilt."
"Jewish guilt and fear of losing," said Pearl, who turned 45 earlier this month." I am a tireless worker for those two reasons. I was not the best player [in high school] and I am definitely not the best coach, so for better or worse, I put everything I've got into my job."
While there is little doubt that that mentality has helped carry him into the annals along side other great collegiate coaches, it's likely that his life long love for the Boston Red Sox also had something to do with it.
"When you live through Bucky Dent's homer and the ball rolling through Bill Buckner's legs, you realize that good things don't come easy," he once said. "Being a Red Sox fan does prepare you for a lot of things."
In a move that had been widely anticipated, the University of Tennessee announced early this week that it has acquired Pearl as its new head coach under a five-year, $800,000 a year contract.
Much to the dismay of Milwaukeeans, Pearl accepted the offering, saying: "It is truly a dream come true. I feel like I am prepared."
M. Stephen Brown is a Senior Staff Writer for JewishSports.com.
Reflections | Profiles | News | About | Jews in Sports | Trivia | Links | Home