The Downfall of Bruce Pearl

Bruce Pearl had five successful seasons as the men's head basketball coach, but things began to unravel in late 2010. He was accused of not only breaking NCAA recruiting rules, but lying to investigators about those violations. Tennessee penalized him $1.5 million and banned him from some off-campus recruiting. The Southeastern Conference ordered him to serve an eight-game suspension.

Then came a 30-point loss to Michigan in the first round of the 2011 NCAA tournament. Three days later, Pearl and three assistant coaches were fired. Missouri State University head coach Cuonzo Martin was hired to replace Pearl less than a week later.