University of Tennessee Athletics
Summitt, Pearl Ready for Next Weekend's Coaching Clinic
October 02, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 2, 2009
BY DREW EDWARDS
UTSports.com
It's pretty common for Bruce Pearl and Pat Summitt to talk shop around Tennessee's basketball offices.
So it only made sense for UT's head basketball coaches to talk X's and O's during this month's coaching clinic together, too.
"When you have that mutual respect among your staff members, it's really neat and I know that I can go down to his office at any time and just pick his brain," Summitt said. "We've had sessions where we've just sat down and talked basketball or talked recruiting."
Now other coaches can get in on the act, too.
On Oct. 16-17, Summitt and Pearl will host the Tennessee Basketball Coaching Clinic at Thompson-Boling Arena. Coaches will hear from Summitt, Pearl and their respective staffs, watch individual workouts with the Vols and Lady Vols basketball teams as well as team practices. NBDL coach Nick Nurse will also be on hand, as will WNBA assistant coach Carol Ross.
Advance registration is $100, and coaches from 23 different states have already registered for the two-day event. Coaches or vendors seeking more information should call the men's or women's basketball office at 865-974-8344 or 865-974-9509.
Helping teach the game is important, Pearl said.
"I know that our chancellor, Jimmy Cheek, and Susan Martin, our provost, they're interested in our coaches teaching," Pearl said. "And they've given us a tremendous classroom in the Pratt Pavilion and also to promote great teaching to the coaches in the state of Tennessee. It's a responsibility that we here at the university have."
For Pearl, co-hosting a clinic with Summitt was pretty much a no-brainer. And so is walking down the hall to get a little advice from time to time as well.
"She has helped us build this program," Pearl said. "I'm not a rocket scientist. I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I'd be a fool if I didn't take advantage of her knowledge or experience or her wisdom or her counsel. And I seek it often."
It's a two-way street, one that involves more than just talk about X's and O's.
"We've shared a lot," Summitt said. "We've benefitted a lot from just being able to share some of our offensive and defensive schemes. You get another opinion, and it helps for us to just have that open conversation at times about how we deal with players or discipline action.
"It doesn't just stop with the X's and the O's. We're constantly having to deal with other issues. It's always for me, if I've got someone one door down from the office, I can go in and talk to him at any point in time. He's come down to my office many times as well."
Follow the Vols on Twitter @UTAthletics, and read Drew Edwards' blog, The Inside Source.
