pearl and si in october

I was at the airport and saw that the latest issue of Sports Illustrated was on the newsstand. The swimsuit edition is my favorite but I will have to wait a few months for that. I needed something to occupy my time on the plane so I picked up the magazine, took it to the counter, and plopped down my money.  Six bucks and no babes in swimming suits seemed a bit much but what the heck?  

As seems to be my luck of late, my flight was delayed so I pulled out the magazine to take a look.

With the baseball playoffs in full swing and the football season at its halfway point, I pretty well knew what to expect. The Colorado Rockies were on the cover and an article chronicled their improbable run to the playoffs. I flipped through the pages and the LSU Tigers and Les Miles got some good pub with not one but two great spreads about the nation’s then-top rated college football team.

I kept going and there was a nice little piece on the trials and tribulations of young players trying to make the transition from college to the NFL. My fingers continued but stopped suddenly. My eyes caught a full-page picture of some guy with no shirt and his chest painted orange. I instantly recognized the guy. The shot of Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl is now famous.

For Big Orange fans, the content of the article wasn’t all that newsworthy. The fact the nation’s premiere sports magazine ran it in October IS newsworthy. Phil Fulmer and the football Vols are supposed to be in Sports Illustrated in October. But not the basketball Vols.

The next six pages gave readers an up close and personal look at the Vols’ affable coach. The publicity was worth millions to Tennessee’s basketball program. It doesn’t hurt that it came out less than a month before the national signing day for high school seniors. You can bet the UT athletic department bought up dozens of copies of the magazine and mailed them to high school prospects with a note saying, “Wouldn’t you like to play for this guy?”

Not since the days of Ernie and Bernie has the Vols basketball team gotten such attention from the magazine. It just feeds the excitement that is now Volunteer basketball.

In just two short years, Pearl has put the UT program back on the map. Ticket sales for the upcoming season are setting records. A new practice facility is nearing completion. Thompson Boling Arena is being renovated and will have a totally new look when the Vols take the floor next month. Pearl gets the credit for all of this. He wins and his teams entertain. And the rest of the nation is taking notice. 

There is a price for such high profile publicity. The national press doesn’t give coverage like this to teams expected to be also-rans.

 It is clear that expectations are high for this year’s team. Tune in to local sports talk radio shows and Vol fans fully expect their team to be in the Final Four.

With stars like Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith returning for their senior years and the addition of heralded transfers Tyler Smith and J.P. Prince, anything less than playing in San Antonio will be disappointing. These are high expectations for a team that has never in its history advanced beyond the Sweet 16. They may even be more unrealistic considering the Vols do not have a dominating center.

But the story here isn’t how good the Vols are or how far they will go in the postseason. The story is there are expectations.

Gone are the days when fans hoped for an NCAA bid. Making The Dance is a given. No more sweating out Selection Sunday to see if the Vols are in or out.

Fans now turn in to see how high their team is seeded. Making the field is no longer enough. Advancing deep into the tourney is expected. 

And Bruce Pearl isn’t running from the expectations. In fact, he embraces them. His hope is that Sports Illustrated will be writing about his Vols in March.