When Bruce Pearl walks through the tunnel and onto the court inside Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday, Donnie Tyndall already knows what to expect.
In fact, the first-year head coach has already experienced a similar situation.
On Dec. 28, 2012, Tyndall’s Southern Mississippi team traveled to Kentucky to play Morehead State, where Tyndall had coached the previous six years.
The atmosphere surrounding his return: exactly what he believes awaits Pearl.
“With all he’s accomplished, I’d be shocked if he doesn’t get a great ovation,” Tyndall said. “He certainly deserves one, in my humble opinion. When I went back to Morehead (State), it was really cool that they gave me a great ovation, and we won the game by 36, so I hope they don’t come in here and win the game by 36.”
Pearl’s return, however, will not be the first of its kind.
Tennessee (12-7, 4-3 SEC) is 1-2 all-time when facing a team led by a former UT head coach. The Vols defeated Don DeVoe — a UT coach from 1979-1989 — and his Florida squad 75-57 on Feb. 17, 1990, but was swept in a home-and-home series against Southern California, coached by Kevin O’Neill who led the Vols from 1994-1997, during the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 seasons.
But neither of those matchups carried quite the build up and hype that surrounds Saturday’s matchup.
“I think it will be a great atmosphere,” Tyndall said. “Everything that coach Pearl did here, from winning games, to playing for championships, to going to the Elite Eight, all those things should and need to be recognized. In fact, we sell a lot of those things when we are recruiting, so I think people will be excited to see him. Hopefully they are cheering for us, but I’m pretty sure that’ll be the case.”
After all the cheers, roars and standing ovations to follow the former six-year UT head coach’s introduction, though, will come the challenge of limiting Auburn’s offense.
Led by senior guard K.T. Harrell — whose 17.1 point per game average ranks second in the SEC — the Tigers offense features three scorers who average double figures in scoring, despite the team only averaging 66.9 points per game.
“They have some guys on the perimeter — Harrell, (Malcolm) Canada and the transfer (Antoine) Mason — who can really score in bunches, so they are very dangerous,” Tyndall said. “When they get it going, they play with a swagger and a freedom offensively that really scares you.”
Nonetheless, Saturday will ultimately be remembered for Pearl traversing “The Summitt’s” sidelines for the first time since 2011.
But for Tyndall, the return is not the priority.
Instead, he is more focused on winning with his team en route to creating his own beloved status at Tennessee.
“It’s one of those deals — and I don’t mean to say this egotistically at all — but if you went to Morehead, Kentucky or Hattiesburg, Mississippi, those people and those fans would say the same things about me that they say about Coach Pearl here,” Tyndall said. “First and foremost, when you win and treat people the right way in the community, you give them yourself and the team gives back, people gravitate towards you.
“Hopefully some day my staff and I will be thought of the way he is.”
More on Pearl’s return: When Tyndall took the head coaching job at Tennessee, he was well aware of past coaching transgressions.
As former UT head coach Cuonzo Martin maneuvered his Volunteer team to the program’s seventh Sweet 16 appearance, the infamous petition — which garnered more than 37,000 signatures — promoting Pearl’s re-hiring as Tennessee’s coach loomed large.
Eventually, the lack of support became one of the reasons that caused Martin to bolt for California.
But while standing at the podium during his introductory press conference, Tyndall made his pitch to the Volunteer faithful.
“We have to put that behind us and it has to start today and we all have to rally and get on the same bus, if you will,” said Tyndall on April 22.
And with 19 games complete in his first year at UT, Tyndall’s request for solidarity has finally begun to take shape.
But he also believes that unification shouldn’t come without celebrating the successes of the past.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, what you read or what people say, everyone has an opinion,” Tyndall said. “There are coach Martin fans and there should be. There are coach Pearl fans and there should be. But at the end of the day, there are Tennessee fans, and I think they are pulling for our team. I think they are pulling for me as the coach, and that’s all I wanted to do when I took over.
“(I wanted to) unite everybody, get us all on the same page and move forward. That’s no disrespect to coach Pearl and coach Martin and all they accomplished, but to grow your program and continue to recruit well like we are doing, everyone has to be on board and I think that’s happening.”
