In order to lighten the mood a bit, I'll post this story that I got sent to me via e-mail. A sample:
(Tennessee coach Bruce) Pearl . . . couldn’t resist a quip of his own. He told about a game when he was at Southern Indiana and he was on the road playing Kentucky Wesleyan in one of those situations where “we were playing five on eight”, with the officials giving his team the short end of the deal.
Down by 20 points on the road, he called timeout with 30 seconds to go in the game to a chorus of boos. He told his best player when they broke the huddle to go and guard one of the referees. When the player questioned the coach’s instructions, an assistant chimed in and said, “Just do what Coach Pearl told you to do.”
The player followed Pearl’s orders and came out on the court and started closely guarding the official rather than an opposing player. The referee blew the whistle and came over to Pearl and asked, “What are you trying to pull here, Coach?”
Pearl told the ref that when he was an assistant to Dr. Tom Davis at Iowa, Davis always taught his coaches that you should put your best player on the guy who is hurting you the most, and as Pearl told him, “You’re it, buddy!”
Down by 20 points on the road, he called timeout with 30 seconds to go in the game to a chorus of boos. He told his best player when they broke the huddle to go and guard one of the referees. When the player questioned the coach’s instructions, an assistant chimed in and said, “Just do what Coach Pearl told you to do.”
The player followed Pearl’s orders and came out on the court and started closely guarding the official rather than an opposing player. The referee blew the whistle and came over to Pearl and asked, “What are you trying to pull here, Coach?”
Pearl told the ref that when he was an assistant to Dr. Tom Davis at Iowa, Davis always taught his coaches that you should put your best player on the guy who is hurting you the most, and as Pearl told him, “You’re it, buddy!”
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