Bruce Pearl to Memphis?

DETROIT - Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com is reporting that Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl has emerged as the leading candidate to replace John Calipari at Memphis.

Memphis AD R.C. Johnson “is expected to ask for permission” to speak with Pearl on Thursday and will offer him a deal worth $3 million a year, Goodman wrote.

Asked for a comment, Tennessee men’s basketball spokesman Tom Satkowiak said: “To my knowledge, at this point, Memphis has not contacted our director of athletics, Mike Hamilton, to request permission to speak to Coach Pearl.”

Said Memphis spokesman Lamar Chance: “I have not heard anything official on that.”

Bringing in Pearl would be a strong move for Memphis, which lost Calipari and could loose a slew of recruits, including Xavier Henry, DeMarcus Cousins and potentially John Wall.

Henry will likely end up at Kansas or Kentucky, Cousins could follow Calipari to Kentucky and Wall remains open and is considering several options.

It remains unclear what two other Memphis commits — Will Coleman and Darnell Dodson of Miami Dade College — will end up doing.

Miami Dade coach Matt Eisele said his program would keep that information “in house” for now.

Perhaps Pearl could stem the tide and keep some of the recruits from leaving.


Source: zagsblog.com