Snitches on Rocky Top

Both Bruce Pearl and Phil Fulmer, have enemies in certain corners. That's what happens when you provide incriminating information about one your rivals to the NCAA. Whether upholding the integrity of the game, or simply taking shots at an opponent, the views on the actions of each are varied. In 1989, when Pearl was an assistant coach at Iowa, he was dejected to lose the recruiting battle for a star player to Illinois. Suspicious of the Fighting Illini, Pearl managed to record the boy's high school coach admitting to illegal benefits. Illinois was subsequently punished and Pearl entered career purgatory with the "snitch" label clearly affixed to his name. In 2005, Pearl found an big-time athletic director willing to look past his sneaky ways. Mike Hamilton, the A.D. at Tennessee, had already weathered a similar storm a year earlier. In January of 2004, it was revealed that Fulmer had provided the NCAA with damaging information about Alabama recruiting practices. Informant Fulmer was able to pin crimes on Bama which played a part in their stiff penalties from the NCCA in 2002. If they need a trainer, Brian Mcnamee is probably unemployed.