Tennessee's Pearl hoping to get Vols back on right track

With a 21-7 record some have questioned the Vols No. 2 seeding.
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -- It's hard to say which was a worse look for Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl -- the garish orange blazer he wore a few times this season, or the sweat-soaked suit that clung to his body in a game at Florida.
Either way, he doesn't plan to change anything about his sideline persona.
"I'm not a fashion plate," he said Wednesday. "I try to bring a lot of passion to what I do. We do everything with a great deal of intensity, and that sometimes brings attention to yourself. I don't mean to."
In his first year, Pearl has the 18th-ranked Volunteers (21-7) back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001 after they won the East division of the Southeastern Conference over Florida and Kentucky. Perhaps that partially explains why they received a No. 2 seed in the Washington Regional despite losing three of their past four games.
Plays Winthrop today
Tennessee plays 15th-seeded Winthrop (23-7) in the first round today.
"We understand there's been a lot of discussion about whether we deserved a No. 2 seed," Pearl said. "We had an unbelievable regular season. We've got to find the hunger once again to prove people that we're deserving, and continue to bring honor to Tennessee basketball."
He already tried to do that with the bright blazer he donned for the four games against Kentucky and Vanderbilt this season, a nod to the one worn by longtime Tennessee coach Ray Mears. His 278 career victories is the most in school history, and his success against those rivals was unprecedented.
Pearl had a bit of his own earlier this season, helping the Vols win at Rupp Arena for the first time in seven years. As his players began celebrating on the bench during the waning seconds, he chided them to act as if they'd been there before.
Yet when everyone reached the locker room, Pearl ripped off his shirt and mockingly flexed his muscles in front of the team.
"It was kind of funny, buttons were flying everywhere," forward Dane Bradshaw said. "We all laughed and gave him a Gatorade bath in there."
Of course, all this would mean very little if the Vols weren't winning. They finished a combined two games over .500 in four mostly mediocre years under Buzz Peterson, who was fired and eventually ended up at Coastal Carolina.
Took over last March
Pearl, meanwhile, led 12th-seeded Wisconsin-Milwaukee to the round of 16 last season with upsets of Alabama and Boston College. He was hired by Tennessee in March and has done nothing to disappoint a rabid fan base, winning 13 of his first 14 games and helping re-establish the program on the national scene.
The Vols drew at least 20,000 to six home games at Thompson-Boling Arena, one of the reasons Pearl was rewarded with a two-year contract extension through 2012 that pushed his annual salary to $1.1 million.
"While our basketball team is a couple of years ahead of schedule, the program is light-years ahead of schedule," Pearl said. "They told me that Thompson-Boling was too big, and it's not any more."
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