The Illinois Fighting Illini have made their first Final Four since 2005, but a collective hatred of retired Auburn Tigers head coach and current school ambassador Bruce Pearl has recently consumed their run. Illinois head football coach Bret Bielema was the latest to pile it on the CBS commentator.
Pearl, a former Iowa Hawkeyes assistant who infamously got Deon Thomas suspended for his freshman year in Champaign by recording a phone call between the two and sending it to the NCAA, revealed he was cheering for Iowa over Illinois on the Elite Eight broadcast, even though he correctly picked the Illini to win on Saturday.
Bielema called Pearl out for it on social media on Saturday night, tweeting, "Was going to record his comments… asking for a friend? He always seems to have a few things to say that are well guarded and calculated."
Illinois hates Bruce Pearl for Deon Thomas debacle. Deeply.
Bielema's comments were just the latest from the Illinois camp. Thomas himself didn't attack Bruce by name, but he did accuse him of lying and shared regret that he never got to play with the NBA-bound Kendal Gill.
"When you are going through what I went through as a 17-year-old, having someone tell mistruths about you, even though you know what your character is and who you are, it was very hurtful in certain ways to have my character questioned in that way," Thomas said. "But to be quite honest, I knew I did not do anything wrong. I knew Jimmy Collins did not do anything wrong. So what seriously affected me and really hurt me was the fact that I did not get to play with Kendall Gill, Steve Bardo, and the rest of those guys from that '89 (Final Four) team. I think if we play, we're right back in the Final Four. So that was one thing that was crushing to me."
Gill took it far less easy on Bruce, sharing ad hominem attacks on the 66-year-old.
"Some guys are just slimeballs in life, that’s what they are,” Gill said. “That’s the way I feel about the guy.”
It's hard not to empathize with the players here. Pearl used a position of power to crush dissent and get a student-athlete's right to play revoked for a year, in this case, for a player choosing Illinois over Iowa.
This happened over two and a half decades ago, though. The Fighting Illini have a Final Four opportunity ahead of them with their first-ever March Madness win within reach.
Illinois can't be too haunted by the ghosts of its past with a glorious championship future on its doorstep. The sweetest revenge would finally be winning the big one and making Bruce talk about it on live television.