Bruce Pearl made a strange remark on CBS airwaves in response to Hubert Davis' firing as the North Carolina Tar Heels' head basketball coach. Pearl's comment was seemingly an insinuation that the Auburn Tigers didn't have his back long-term.
Per Pearl on Thursday night during the Sweet 16 broadcast, "I just hate hearing the words 'Hubert Davis was fired at UNC.' That sentence right there bothers me to my core... That's why I'm sitting here, guys. That's part of the reason why I'm sitting here. Because there is no loyalty anymore."
Excuse me, Bruce? No loyalty? The school that handed the program over to your son and is still paying you as an ambassador has no loyalty? The athletic department that invested in your program to the possible detriment of the football program? That's the school you're claiming you were afraid of being backstabbed by?
Sorry for the questions. One more. What is the motivation for Bruce saying these completely outlandish things in front of a national audience seemingly every week?
Bruce Pearl may want a head coaching job that isn't Auburn's
Bizarrely creating a rift between himself and AU for seemingly no reason outside of being dramatic on television reeks of having an ulterior motive behind the scenes. Bruce must be getting the itch to coach again, but knows he can't come back to the Plains and usurp his son.
Having admitted that the Indiana Hoosiers was his dream job, perhaps Bruce waits for Darian DeVries to potentially flame out in Bloomington. The UNC job opening is probably not one Bruce considers in the wake of these Davis comments, but who knows? That itch to coach could be all-powerful and consuming.
Truthfully, there's no other way to interpret this weird stray. It's awful to go all conspiratorial, but Bruce's bizarre behavior warrants it. If he knows Auburn is souring on his son, and doesn't see that relationship going well, maybe he burns it all down and takes a new job, burning goodwill on the way out.
Certainly, he's already started some fires.