Pearl has been mentioned as a possible hire at Memphis if Pastner leaves. I don't know if he would leave Auburn so quickly, but Memphis probably has a higher ceiling.

Buzz Williams is being mentioned for the Okie State job. Just like Pearl, does he leave a program with a lower ceiling after just two years? Unlike Pearl, Buzz's team showed a substantial improvement in year 2 in a tougher conference and looks to be headed to the NIT. I would think he could get a serious look at just about any job opening if he is interested, but he seems like a loyal guy who won't bail on VTU easily.

No probably about Memphis having a higher ceiling than Auburn.

Ben Howland and Bruce Pearl shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence.

In truth, Pearl is pretty overrated. He's a charismatic guy, but his team's were never great.

How land resurrected Pitt and took UCLA to 3 straight Final Fours.

It shouldn't be surprising that their results are different.

I think Pearl is a good recruiter and a great motivator. He does seem to still have a lot of work to do trying to build and stabilize a decent roster situation.

He took some risks in his first couple of recruiting classes on some guys with some talent but also some baggage like that 7-footer Trayvon Reed, Bowers, Canty etc. with mixed results, plus injury issues to Dunans and Shamsid-Deen and then guys not qualifying like Purifoy and it was just a bunch of roster issues to overcome and the season went down the toilet.

I'm not sure what to think yet about Pearl's prospects in his Year #3 (next season). Supposedly Travon Reed (that 7-footer 4-star rated recruit that he picked up once Turgeon and Maryland cut ties) is still working out and expected to return to the program next season. Then there is the question of whether Purifoy does get in. Dunans doesn't appear to be a guy you can get away with as your primary PG so Pearl has a major question mark at that position which he will need to find answers to. It is hard to imagine Shamsid-Deen coming back and being effective after all those shoulder issues the past 2 seasons. Who knows. He does have a 4-star rated freshman PG recruit coming in it seems.

I do think Auburn will probably be a bit better at least than this last season (be hard to not be better) but whether or not they are actually any 'good' may come down a lot to whether guys like Purifoy do actually play on the court and are as talented as projected, and whether they find a consistent solution at the PG position. Also, he has a pretty shaky 'big' situation, which will only be worse if Reed turns out to be a complete loss.

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Ben Howland and Bruce Pearl shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence.

In truth, Pearl is pretty overrated. He's a charismatic guy, but his team's were never great.

How land resurrected Pitt and took UCLA to 3 straight Final Fours.

It shouldn't be surprising that their results are different.

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I'm not sure the results are that much different this season, relative to where they were projected to finish. They both underperformed.

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Pearl has been mentioned as a possible hire at Memphis if Pastner leaves. I don't know if he would leave Auburn so quickly, but Memphis probably has a higher ceiling.

Buzz Williams is being mentioned for the Okie State job. Just like Pearl, does he leave a program with a lower ceiling after just two years? Unlike Pearl, Buzz's team showed a substantial improvement in year 2 in a tougher conference and looks to be headed to the NIT. I would think he could get a serious look at just about any job opening if he is interested, but he seems like a loyal guy who won't bail on VTU easily.

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Buzz has a pretty big buyout at Virginia Tech this year. Drops significantly next year if I remember right.

Oklahoma State isn't exactly strapped for cash, but that will play a factor.

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Ben Howland and Bruce Pearl shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence.

In truth, Pearl is pretty overrated. He's a charismatic guy, but his team's were never great.

How land resurrected Pitt and took UCLA to 3 straight Final Fours.

It shouldn't be surprising that their results are different.

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I'm not sure the results are that much different this season, relative to where they were projected to finish. They both underperformed.

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Try watching them play. By the end of the year, nobody wants a piece of MSU.

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I appreciate Hops willingness to start actual topics for discussion on the board. In this instance however, LeFraud made a valid couple of points about Pearls past recruiting. He could have done it more tactfully but his point is still valid

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Pearl had three recruiting classes higher at Tennessee than he's had at Auburn, including two Top 10 classes. My point in valid. Many here went into mourning when Pearl went to Auburn. Pearl's recruiting is good by Auburn standards, but he certainly hasn't met the recruiting expectations of many here. As I said, his recruiting has been solid, but not game-changing like Howland at MSU. Howland has signed four 4-star Top 100 prospects for next year. I think 247 has Auburn with only one Top 100 prospect in a three-man class. Solid...but not game-changing for a 13th place team losing its most productive player.

Bruce Pearl is overrated? His teams have never been great?

He took a Tennessee team that never did anything and at one time had them ranked Number 1 in the country. Couple sweet sixteen trips, an elite eight, wins over just about everyone.

Second fastest active coach to reach 400 wins. HisNCA trouble was for having a BBQ for the players at his house, then lying about it. Cooking on the grill.

Yep he isn't a great coach.

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Pearl's recruiting is good by Auburn standards, but he certainly hasn't met the recruiting expectations of many here.

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You keep talking about these "expectations", presumably of Top 10 classes...care to provide any proof or will you just continue to make up claims to support your opinions?

can we try to predict Hops troll choice for next season (and then bet on them the following season)?
last off season his troll-du-jour was how terrible frank martin was.

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can we try to predict Hops troll choice for next season (and then bet on them the following season)?
last off season his troll-du-jour was how terrible frank martin was.

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I think he dropped the Frank Martin thing when Ben stopped posting. If I had to predict a topic he'll be interested in next season (as I will be), it's going to be which one of the new or fairly new coaches continues to struggle.

Why did he get a show cause for grilling meat

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Why did he get a show cause for grilling meat

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Hosting that pool party was a minor violation. He got hit with the big stuff when he blatantly and repeatedly lied about it to the NCAA.

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Pearl's recruiting is good by Auburn standards, but he certainly hasn't met the recruiting expectations of many here.

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You keep talking about these "expectations", presumably of Top 10 classes...care to provide any proof or will you just continue to make up claims to support your opinions?

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Are you suggesting that many on this board weren't saying that Pearl would provide Auburn a significant bump in recruiting and performance?

Auburn recruiting has improved significantly, hasn't it?

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I'd trade BK for Pearl tomorrow. So would just about anyone without a fish to fry in the matter.

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I don't have any fish and I would not trade Kennedy for Pearl tomorrow. How would a shakeup like that impact the team's performance in the NCAA tournament? What kind of program stability would that convey to the recruits we're chasing currently?

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Sorry, literal man.

I have to agree with pretty much everything you said. In basketball it doesn't take a roster of "his guys" to see results. It's incredibly apparent that good coaches can get it done in pretty much any situation fairly quickly. For that reason I still may never forgive Hymen for passing on Buzz. However, I am very pleased with where we are as a program this year.
And with that said, I don't think you can argue Pearl should be on the hot seat if you didn't think BK should have been on the hot seat after years 2 or 3. I expect Auburn to keep him around for a while because it's not like they can go out and get anyone proven to be a better option at this point.

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Auburn recruiting has improved significantly, hasn't it?

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Exactly, and they also made the semi-finals of the sec tournament last year...which most would say is an improvement.

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Pearl has been mentioned as a possible hire at Memphis if Pastner leaves. I don't know if he would leave Auburn so quickly, but Memphis probably has a higher ceiling.

Buzz Williams is being mentioned for the Okie State job. Just like Pearl, does he leave a program with a lower ceiling after just two years? Unlike Pearl, Buzz's team showed a substantial improvement in year 2 in a tougher conference and looks to be headed to the NIT. I would think he could get a serious look at just about any job opening if he is interested, but he seems like a loyal guy who won't bail on VTU easily.

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Buzz has a pretty big buyout at Virginia Tech this year. Drops significantly next year if I remember right.

Oklahoma State isn't exactly strapped for cash, but that will play a factor.

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You're right - $3.5 million buyout if this is correct:

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Perhaps more importantly, Williams crafted a buyout structure that will likely lead to increasing speculation if other schools pursue him as a coach in the future. If Williams leaves in the first year of the contract, he owes Virginia Tech $7 million. That figure drops to $3.5 million in year two and $1.5 million in year three. It drops below $1 million to $900,000 in year four, $500,000 in year five and $250,000 in year six after that.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/buzz-williams-contract-to-coach-virginia-tech-basketball-offers-several-incentives-and-perks/2014/05/21/d1a1fbd6-e02b-11e3-8dcc-d6b7fede081a_story.html

Not sure even T-Boone will be willing to pay out that much, combined with whatever Ford gets on his way out.

But then again, Okie State's attendance really bottomed out this season, down to about 5300 a game, I read somewhere. They need to do something.

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I'd trade BK for Pearl tomorrow. So would just about anyone without a fish to fry in the matter.

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Now why in the world would you disrupt the team chemistry the day before SECT and week before NCAA tourney? Best thing for now would be to let this current team finish out its string.

Surely you would not be that impatient and would be able to wait another few weeks?

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Are you suggesting that many on this board weren't saying that Pearl would provide Auburn a significant bump in recruiting and performance?

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Nope. I'm suggesting that the "expectations from many on this board" of Top 10 classes right out the gate at Auburn are a figment of your imagination.

Would you care to refute?

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Yep, there were a number of people (some probably posting on this thread) that guaranteed Auburn would be ahead of A&M in two years after Pearl was hired. It is amazing how often these people can be dead wrong and still act like they are always right.

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truth

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To be fair, the only poster that I remember saying that was Ben. Yes, he predicted that Auburn would quickly shoot up in the conference rankings. Ben also predicted Florida would win the SEC this year because MIKE WHITE! MIKE WHITE IS DONOVAN 2.0!

But hey, I had Miss State as my 'sleeper' pick to finish in the top-4 in conference this season cause I thought Howland had a bunch of juniors/seniors plus Malik Newman that he would be able to make some noise with, and instead Miss State though getting better late generally had a hard time winning games. So we all have wrong predictions.

Uh, no, Pearl's name was in every thread by multiple posters about the woes of what could have been if...............and some are still saying it. See above.

what i recall is people complaining about how we had just finished our 3rd terrible season, the "post season or pink slips" tour ended in Hyman walking it back and telling fans to manage their expectations and giving kennedy an extension as a reward for his performance. hyman then explained that turge and bcg didnt win the "right way", implying that they cheated and suggesting that the success they had was unsustainable.
compare that to the available coaches at the time Pearl (4x sweet 16, 1x elite 8, 4 other ncaa trips) and buzz (2x s16, 1x e8, a&m ties)

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It is hard to over state how poorly coached auburn has looked this year. They don't do anything right.

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This needs to emphasized. It's not that they have bad talent (they do but not the point), they do almost everything poorly.

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It is hard to over state how poorly coached auburn has looked this year. They don't do anything right.

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This needs to emphasized. It's not that they have bad talent (they do but not the point), they do almost everything poorly.

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Kind of like what we saw out of kennedy in years 1-3, no?

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It is hard to over state how poorly coached auburn has looked this year. They don't do anything right.

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This needs to emphasized. It's not that they have bad talent (they do but not the point), they do almost everything poorly.

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Kind of like what we saw out of kennedy in years 1-3, no?

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Why does this have to be about Kennedy? Regardless of years 1 through 3 Kennedy has figured it out. Will pearl? They have looked so bad and got worse this year than the year prior. That never happened under Kennedy.