Arguably the most important figure in America today is Bruce Pearl.
OK, perhaps not arguably, but for a weary group of Vol fans, Bruce Pearl is giving off quite the glow around Knoxville these days.
The decline of the football team has left the surviving true Vol fans feeling like a band of brothers (minus Ron Livingston and Chandler from Friends thus far, though the verdict is still out on them).
Last season, the Vols faced the tough task of meeting expectations; a task most fans gladly embrace. I think that the consensus would be that this was also a challenge that they met very well.
The reason last season's team didn’t ultimately have more success was that they peaked too early in the season. They peaked when they won the Memphis game in what turned into an epic match-up resulting in the Vols first ever No. 1 ranking.
So what are the expectations coming into this season?
The expectations for the Vols are still definitely high (picked to win the SEC), but maybe a little bit lower than last season due to the loss of senior guards Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith.
Chris Lofton finished his career as the SEC’s all-time three point shooter, as well as third all-time nationally. JaJuan Smith actually wasn’t too far behind him either finishing third all-time in Tennessee’s record books.
It will be a tough task for Bruce Pearl to replace the 30 points per game that those two averaged.
The Vols also lost forward Duke Crews who transferred to Bowie State in Maryland and Ramar Smith who transferred to Oklahoma City University.
Those are tough shoes to fill for the SEVEN newcomers to the Vols roster. Last season Tennessee finished sixth nationally in points per game at 82. Can these new guys get the job done? Most signs thus far have indicated that they can.
Clearly the three-point shooting will be less of strength. However, this year’s squad is longer, deeper, and more athletic than any of Pearl’s previous three teams.
As Pearl pointed out, “the talent is there, but there is absolutely nothing you can do to duplicate experience.”
But before you start questioning the legitimacy of this team step back and look at what Bruce Pearl has done during his time at Tennessee.
In his three years, he has taken a mediocre at best Tennessee team past Florida in the Eastern Division of the SEC the year they won the National Championship. He's won a SEC regular-season title and 77 games.
He's also increased home attendance by more than 8,000 fans per game. Not to mention that he has gotten 24,535 seat Thompson-Boling Arena renovated and the very nice new Pratt Pavilion practice facility built.
If anyone can be trusted with shaping this team to meet the high expectations, Bruce Pearl can. Pearl has been quoted saying that he thinks, “the high end of this team could be as high as it was last year.”
Bold words Bruce.
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