Editor's note: The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has opened its search for a new men's basketball coach after Bruce Pearl was introduced on March 28, 2005 as the coach at the University of Tennessee. The following interview was conducted in March 2004.
{image1} Bruce Pearl has taken a UWM basketball program that had started on the upswing and brought it to heights once never imagined. Under Pearl's direction, the Panthers won 24 games last season, the most by a UWM squad since the 1988-89 season, equaling the all-time school record.
He led UWM to its first-ever NCAA Tournament berth after winning the Horizon League Tournament championship. Then, in the tournament, Pearl led the Panthers within a point of upsetting Notre Dame. His work has been recognized by his peers and the media, as Pearl has claimed Horizon League Coach of the Year honors in each of the last two seasons.
In his relatively brief time in Milwaukee, Pearl also has established himself as a salesman of UWM and the basketball program. He is active in the community on several fronts.
Pearl has the Panthers poised again for a run at the Horizon League tournament title and another bid to the NCAA tournament. He talked with Ryan Julson recently about the coaches and experiences that have influenced him, and what he hopes to accomplish in the present and future.
OMC: How did you first get involved in basketball? What other sports did you play when you were younger?
BP: I played football, baseball and basketball and a little bit of tennis. For my whole life I've always coached kids. When I was old enough to coach, I just started as a volunteer, and I had no idea that I would ever try to do it as a job or as a profession.
OMC: How do you handle coaching and raising a family?
BP: I married my best friend's sister, and he was a four-year starter at Boston College. I married a woman whose uncle is "Stormin' Norman" Sloan, who won a national championship in 1974 at N.C. State, and she obviously understands the profession and the time commitments and the pressures. And my family participates in everything that we do. My wife is very involved in the relations of our fans, donors and alumni and our players.
My children go to all our games and many of our practices and some of our road trips. I'm gone too long. I take them when I go out and recruit sometimes and take them with me when ever I possibly can. It's sort of sad when you're home and rather than necessarily sitting down and doing as much homework with them as you like, you're watching tape and the only way your son can get close to you is by him giving you plays and diagrams.
OMC: Besides coaching, what other interests and hobbies do you have?
BP: Other than coaching and my family and my friends, I like to golf.
OMC: Being from Boston, are you a Red Sox fan? How do you feel about the Yankees stealing A-Rod away?
BP: I'm obviously upset about it. I am a huge Red Sox fan. I think it was another case of the Red Sox not going the extra mile. I mean, you get Curt Schilling and you have an opportunity to dump Manny Ramirez and move Nomar because he wants to go, get the best player in baseball and bring Maglio Ordonez into left field from the White Sox, and you let a couple of million dollars stand in the way. I mean, why did the players association accept the trade with the Yankees? And the answer is the Yankees put up the money.
OMC: Tell me about your experience at Boston College?
BP: I wasn't a player, but I practiced with the team. I refereed practices. I helped coach. I was a student assistant. I was a manager. I even wore the mascot outfit one day when the mascot was sick. So I just, kinda like I still do as a head coach, do whatever it takes.
OMC: How did Tom Davis help you as a person and as a coach?
BP: Tom Davis taught me many things about basketball. He also taught me a lot about working with young people, motivating them, being patient with them, caring about them and how to get them to be the best they can be.
OMC: You borrow aspects of defensive philosophy from Washington State's coach Dick Bennett and Bob Huggins from Cincinnati and offensive strategy from Bill Self and George Karl. What do they do that you like so much, that you feel it necessary to put it into your strategy?
BP: Huggins and Dick Bennett, their man-to-man defense philosophy. Bill Self, I got an interim break from him and George Karl, some of his offensive sets. But 70 percent of what we do is from Tom Davis.
{image3}OMC: How would you feel if one day other coaches around the country say they like to use Bruce Pearl's style in their strategy?
BP: I think as I look around our league and look around at other teams, they are using some of our things. We all do that. If I'm watching a tape of somebody and I see a really good out of bounds play that would fit into our scheme, we'll put it in.
OMC: What interested you at coaching at Southern Indiana?
BP: It was an opportunity to be a head coach. I had been an assistant for many years and at age 32, I thought it was time for me to try and see if I could take what I had learned from Dr. Tom and put it to work.
OMC: How did coaching at Southern Indiana prepare you for UWM?
BP: I inherited a program that had tied for last place. They were 4-14 in the league before I had got there. In my first year at Southern Indiana we were 14-4. Southern Indiana was the second largest school in the city of Evansville, or second most prominent school, similar to Marquette and UWM. So I knew things I needed to do as far as the public is concerned, the students, and the media. I try to generate some interest and support and the importance of it. And there are a lot of good coaches and good players in Division 2, and as a result it prepared me.
{image2} OMC: In what ways to you coach differently at UWM than at Southern Indiana?
BP: At Southern Indiana, I probably had a little more talent. We were able to pressure people more into an up-tempo style that was definitely to our liking. We were more talented than most people seven nights out of ten and we won eight nights out of 10. Here at Milwaukee that's not the case. The talent is probably 50-50.
OMC: Given the number of scandals that have come out recently in college sports, how important is it for the coach to monitor the players and do you feel others should be held responsible, as well?
BP: I think it's real important that we do everything we can to try and instill discipline, good values and more responsibility as student atheletes. It starts in recruiting. You know, recruiting good people, But look, young people, they are in college for lots of reasons and one of them is to grow academically and socially, and part of that growth process occasionally means making a bad decision and then learning from that. You hope they're few and far between. I think that from my standpoint, all I can do is control my actions and be a role model for them, and not ask anything of them that I'm not willing to give of myself. And then make sure they understand that there are some additional consequences, more consequences to making mistakes on our program than there is for the average student because of the visibility attached, because of the scholarship that they receive and the responsibilities they have to this team.
OMC: What kinds of players do you like recruit here?
BP: I like them to have different dimensions and abilities, and we try to make sure that we always try to recruit good people.
OMC: Has this year's team lived up to your expectations so far?
BP: To this point they have.
OMC: What improvements to you feel your team needs to make in order to win the Horizon League Tournament?
BP: We need to tighten up defensively, guard people better off the bounce, rotate to help ensure that and cut down on unforced turnovers and continue to improve on our defensive rebounding.
OMC: Last year, how did it feel to make the NCAA tournament as a head coach?
{image4}BP: I was in the NCAA tournament nine years as a head coach at Southern Indiana, but that was the first year in Division One. It didn't feel much different. The opponent was Notre Dame as opposed to Northern Michigan. The stage was certainly a lot bigger, but I was happy for my team and coaching staff that were able to participate and our university and student body that we were able to participate and represent.
OMC: Will making the NCAA tournament this year satisfy you or do you feel you need to progress out of the first round in order to be happy?
BP: It is so hard to get into the tournament that satisfaction is a relative term. Last year was the first time in the school's history they were in the division one tournament, so to even begin to say no I won't be happy unless we advance would be foolish.
OMC: Do you think UWM could ever become a Gonzaga, a mid-major regularly ranked in the top 25?
BP: Possibly, but not likely. Gonzaga has got high-major resources in a mid-major conference. While we have made a terrific improvement as far as the men's basketball program, the move to the U.S. Cellular Arena is the one that I would point to primarily, it's night and day. Gonzaga plays in a mid-major conference, but they have a high-major budget and I can't foresee that we would ever get there.
{image5} OMC: What's your most memorable experience so far at UWM?
BP: Probably getting the job, winning the Horizon League Tournament at the U.S. Cellular Arena and probably taking my team over seas to Europe this summer.
OMC: If UWM and Marquette fail to reach the NCAA tournament, how would you feel about playing them in the NIT?
BP: To make the NIT would be another first for our university. We don't determine the match-ups but certainly the first round match-ups are usually very regional in nature, so if both Marquette and UWM were to be invited to the NIT it would be a potential match-up. I think it would be great for the fans, it would be great for the students and it would be great for the players. I'd love to see that perhaps be a catalyst to get back to playing again like we use to. Marquette is 38-0 against UWM, dominating the series. But that was before our program had gotten competitive. There was a time the Marquette had truly nothing to gain and everything to lose because our strength of schedule was not very strong. I think now we're a good win for somebody because of strength of schedule and our RPI and our reputation.
OMC: In your mind, who are the top five coaches in division one basketball?
BP: I think Bo Ryan, Mike K., Jim Calhoun, Mike Montgomery and Tom Davis.
OMC: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
BP: Hopefully still working here at UWM. One thing about coaching is when you winning they're worried you'll leave and when you're losing they're packing your bags. If I'm still at UWM in 10 years, that means I won enough to keep my job.
OMC: Do you ever see yourself coaching in the NBA?
BP: You can't say for sure. No, I really don't, but a lot of that would depend on Tony Jones my associate head coach. He may get a head coaching job in the NBA someday and he may want me to come be his assistant. You can never say never, but it would have to be a connection like that. Tony and I decided a long time ago that he was either gonna come work for me or that I was gonna go work for him some day. Who knows?
OMC: How did you meet Tony Jones?
BP: I coached his brother at Iowa.
OMC: What motivates you to coach?
BP: I love to be around the young people and love to watch them grow and develop and improve and get the most out of themselves. I love to serve the university in a capacity where its students can celebrate and enjoy the thrill of victory. I love the game of basketball.
OMC: What's your favorite basketball movie and why?
BP: Hoosiers because they were the little engine that could.
OMC: Who has been the most influential person in your life?
BP: My father because he taught me about working hard and competing and doing it the right way.
OMC: Which one coach would you have loved to coach with?
BP: I would I have liked to coach with Rick Pitino. I would put Rick Pitino as number six.
