Friday, March 23, 2007

All unsubstantiated rumors, yes, but...

Word on the street is that Bruce Pearl is interested in coming back to Iowa City.

Fan reaction to that rumor is hilariously split. Some are welcoming Pearl back with open arms and advising Iowa spend $5 million a year on him (yeah, that'll happen). Others are pointing to the similarities between last night's OSU-Tennessee game and the Iowa-UNLV loss in '87 and drawing parallels between Pearl and Dr. Tom. Those people are about the same ones who try to spell "terrible" and end up having as many A's as R's in it.

Barta ought to at least give Pearl a call. If there's no interest or he starts asking for $3 milly-plus or something else unreasonable, then the negotiations end there. He's got a great setup in Knoxville as it is. And if there's any truth to the rumor that Pearl's interested in the Michigan job, I will throw up, eat the throw-up, then throw it up again. Michigan basketball is still hugely popular, and their budget is gigantic. Pearl could very well lead a return to dominance up in Ann Arbor, and even imagining it is making me queasy.

Iowa needs to make a quick move at Pearl and--at the very least--get a good gauge on his interest. That's probably already there. Therefore, it's logical to deduce that it's just a matter of money to get him into Iowa City. Iowa pays coaches extremely well. We can pay out the ass for whoever's going to replace Alford.

1 comment:

Deacon said...

I don't want Pearl. I think it's cute how Illini deflected attention from a legitimately corrupted program into "OMG KILL PEARL" for his inept attempt to expose legitimate NCAA violations. However, as adorable as it is, I don't want to have to hear that bullshit all over again.

Let the Illini piss and moan about their own coaches on their own time. I don't need them up in my internets threatening the coach of the Hawkeyes from here until the end of his days.