There is no way to sugar-coat this for Pearl. He cheated,then lied about it to the NCAA who had photo evidence in hand when they questioned Pearl. As the column by Doyle indicated, Pearl is smarter than this. If they ask a specific question about a specific incident, he has to know they have evidence and he could never skirt by lying. Aaron Craft is going to OSU now,and Pearl is screwed. He knew that entertaining juniors in his home was a huge no-no,and he did it anyway.
I always liked Pearl and thought he was a brilliant recruiter/entertainer, but this smacks of hubris. I think he bought his own press clippings and was bigger than the NCAA rules. No doubt there is intense pressure on him to maintain the high level of play he established at Tenn,but he should have kept his bearings,and he did not.
Selby ends up at KU. Craft at OSU...in the end, I do not see that the rules he broke helped him,and more likely will cost him his job. Rarely do coaches survive this type of transgression.
