Player Bio: Bruce Pearl :: Men's Basketball

His 14th season as a head coach, his first year at Tennessee, Pearl reached an entirely new level of success. Entering the 2005-06 campaign, the Vols were picked to finish fifth out of six teams in the Southeastern Conference's Eastern Division. With a team that had lost two of its top players from the previous season and just one new player added to the rotation, it was no surprise expectations were low in Knoxville.

At the end of the season, Tennessee had won 22 games and won the SEC Eastern Division title with a 12-4 league record. UT swept its regular season series against four of the other five SEC Eastern Division schools (South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Vanderbilt) and were ranked as high as No. 8 by the Associated Press.