Tennessee athletics director Mike Hamilton said in a statement released late Monday that school officials decided to dismiss Pearl, who has been charged by the NCAA with unethical conduct, after learning of additional violations committed on Sept. 14, 2010, and in March 2011.
"Upon receipt of our NCAA Letter of Inquiry in September, we made the difficult decision to forego common national opinion and forge ahead with Bruce and his staff pending any further major infractions or issues that would preclude our basketball program from representing the University of Tennessee in the right manner," Hamilton said. "The cumulative effect of the evolution of the investigation combined with a number of more recent non-NCAA-related incidents have led to a belief that this staff cannot be viable at Tennessee in the future."
Hamilton did not offer any more detail on the March violation or incidents not related to the NCAA investigation. He said the search for a new coach will begin immediately and named video scouting coordinator Houston Fancher, a former Appalachian State coach, as interim coach until Pearl's replacement is hired.
Tennessee will pay Pearl $948,728 worth of salary and benefits as part of his dismissal agreement. His assistants will be paid at their current salary rate through July 31.
Pearl acknowledged in a tearful press conference on Sept. 10 that he had given investigators false information when asked about a cookout at his home attended by high school juniors. The NCAA has since charged the Tennessee basketball and football programs with a dozen violations.
He failed to notify Tennessee of another possible recruiting violation that occurred Sept. 14. Instead, the NCAA informed Tennessee that Pearl had violated its "bump rule" after speaking with a high school junior on a recruiting trip to Georgia that day.
"In September, I said that Bruce Pearl was our coach and I expected him to be our coach for a long time," UT-Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy Cheek said. "I am disappointed with the events that have brought us to this point today, events that I would call "the cumulative effect of evolving circumstances.'"'
Pearl has not commented publicly, but after a 75-45 loss to Michigan on Friday in the second round of the NCAA tournament said that he planned to be accountable for the mistakes he had made but his "goal and desire is to be the basketball coach at Tennessee next year and for a long time."
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