Banished From The NCAA, Bruce Pearl Will Now Sell You Groceries

With good reason, no one's letting former Tennessee Vols coach Bruce Pearl anywhere near a basketball court anytime soon. (He's been confined to barbecues instead.) He had a bad season, and he broke NCAA rules, so Tennessee fired him. Then Pearl received a three-year banishment from college basketball.

All of this is to say he did the right thing by landing a gig with H.T. Hackney, a Knoxville-based wholesale grocery company. From the Knoxville News Sentinel:

Coaching will not be in Bruce Pearl's immediate future as the former Tennessee men's basketball coach has instead accepted a job as vice president of marketing with H.T. Hackney Co.

H.T. Hackney announced today that on Sept. 1 Pearl will join the Knoxville-based wholesale grocery company that supplies a variety of products to stores.

CEO Bill Sansom said Pearl, who was a marketing and economics major at the Boston College School of Management, brings freshness, enthusiasm and a strategic vision to the company.

"H.T. Hackney is a great company that has been doing things right for a long time," Sansom said in a statement. "I've known Bruce Pearl for years—his leadership, competitiveness and understanding of marketing is a great fit for our organization."

The joke is on you if you thought Pearl would toil in obscurity during his NCAA ban. Turns out H.T. Hackney has annual revenues of $4 billion, and they sell many different foodstuffs. So, unless you plan on boycotting, like, potato chips, Bruce Pearl will win again. We just hope he has to wear an apron.

Bruce Pearl taking marketing job with H.T. Hackney [Knoxville News-Sentinel]