Bruce Pearl Is the Greatest Thing to Hit Tennessee Since ...

Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl is the second most popular Jewish person in the state of Tennessee.

And every year he gains on the first. Currently, Pearl is in the midst of his fifth straight 20-win season and this year he has the Vols in their third Sweet 16 in the past four years.

In five seasons at Tennessee, he's won an outright SEC title, is the only coach to take the Vols to five consecutive NCAA tournaments and is responsible for three of the Vols four trips to the Sweet 16 that have required more than one win. As Pearl's team prepares to take on Ohio State for the second time in four seasons in the Sweet 16, this much is true: Bruce Pearl is already the greatest men's basketball coach in the history of the University of Tennessee.

What's more, Pearl is also the best coach in America that doesn't yet have a major national profile. Counting his final season at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Pearl is in his fourth Sweet 16 in the past six seasons. Pop quiz: what do these six names share in common: Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo, Roy Williams, John Calipari, Jay Wright, and Bruce Pearl?

Answer: they are the only six coaches in the nation who have advanced to the Sweet 16 or better in four of the past six seasons.

Yep, no other coaches have done it.

That's because going to the Sweet 16 is hard, really hard to accomplish. In fact, the Sweet 16 is the BCS of college basketball, only harder to reach given that three times as many teams are eligible to compete for Sweet 16 status in basketball compared to how many can advance to the BCS. But you know what makes Pearl unique among these six coaches?

The status of the programs before each coach arrived at their respective schools.

Memphis had seven Sweet 16s before John Calipari; North Carolina had 24 before Roy Williams -- and three national titles; Michigan State had six before Tom Izzo arrived in 1995 -- and two national titles; Villanova had 14 before Jay Wright, and Duke already had six before Coach K. arrived.

Tennessee?

The Vols had only been to the Sweet 16 three times before Pearl arrived in 2006 (twice when advancing required a single tourney win). While the Vols were one of the top three programs in total wins in SEC history, outside of Kentucky, no programs focused much on basketball. Unlike these other five coaches, there was no sustained record of success.

Now, those other coaches have all advanced further in the tournament -- all except for Calipari were able to notch at least one Final Four and national title -- but Pearl's run to elite national status will come. Hell, it could come this year. In the meantime, Pearl's ability to advance a program that hasn't been there before to the horizon of the Final Four is a unique accomplishment deserving of more national acclaim.

In fact, I'll keep the stats rolling for a moment. Prior to Pearl's arrival in Knoxville, the University of Tennessee put up eight NCAA tournament wins. Since 2006, Pearl has won seven NCAA games ... and counting. Beat Ohio State and Pearl will have equaled the prior NCAA tournament history of the Tennessee basketball program and taken the Vols to the Elite 8, a place the team has never gone, in five years at the helm.

Throw all these stats into the mix at Tennessee while comparing Pearl's achievement with that of other national coaches and it becomes clear in a hurry: Bruce Pearl is already the greatest coach in Tennessee men's basketball history.


Now, some Vol fans will point to 15-year legend Ray Mears, the man Bruce Pearl honors by wearing an orange jacket to coach against Vanderbilt and Kentucky. With all due respect to Mears, Pearl has already accomplished as much in five years as Mears did in 15.

To be fair, partly that's the result of the way the NCAA tournament is seeded now; when Mears coached it was almost impossible to make the tournament since only the conference champion advanced. By the time Pearl finishes, after inevitable NCAA tourney expansion, it will be almost impossible not to make the tournament. But even accounting for this difference, in 15 years Mears went to just three NCAA tournaments, winning only one game.

In 15 seasons at Tennessee, Mears went 278-112 for a .712 winning percentage. In five seasons with the Vols, Pearl is 125-45 for a .735 winning percentage. What about their regular season SEC records? Mears went 182-76 (.705) while Pearl has gone 57-23 (.7125)

The percentages don't lie; Pearl has outperformed Mears on the court. Off the court, both men revived moribund basketball programs, providing a carnival-like atmosphere for campus contests. In 2009, Tennessee finished fourth in the nation in college basketball attendance, averaging 20,483 fans per game. Only Kentucky, Syracuse and North Carolina averaged more. This season? The Vols may well ascend to number three in the country, passing North Carolina.

Compare that 2009 number with the number of fans before Pearl arrived. In 2005, the Vols averaged 12,225 fans, 20th best in the nation. Four years later, Pearl has increased attendance by 40 percent. Oftentimes his carnival barker persona, painting his chest and leaping in the student section for instance, has overshadowed the on-the-court results. It's why you're still shaking your head over Pearl's inclusion as one of the six most consistently successful coaches in college basketball over the past six years.

But Pearl belongs in that company.

What he doesn't have any longer is any peer in Volunteer men's basketball. Quite simply, Pearl is the best the Vols have ever had.

And if he hits the Final Four after this weekend -- on Sunday no less -- Bruce Pearl may pass Jesus to become the most popular Jewish person in the state of Tennessee. For a few days at least.