The Tennessee coach, who is trying to endure an NCAA investigation, plus university-enforced punishment over his breach of cell phone allowance and hosting underclassmen recruits at his house, just received one more public stain to his résumé.
ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil and Pat Forde continued to do some investigative work over the weekend; they wanted to know if Pearl had ever been busted in-house while coaching at former schools.
Earlier this afternoon the two filed this story, which shows Pearl hosted junior recruits in 2004 — the same activity which has him twisting in the wind, waiting to find out what the NCAA ultimately decides to charge he and the University of Tennessee with.
Kevin Fitzgerald, the compliance director at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee -- where Pearl previously coached -- confirmed that the university self-reported a violation on Aug. 19, 2004, after "Coach Pearl invited a prospect [and his parents] to his daughter's graduation party hosted at his house, a violation of 13.05.5.3."
Fitzgerald would not name the recruit.
However, multiple sources told ESPN.com that the recruit in question was Mike Schachtner, then a junior at Somerset (Wis.) High School.
Schachtner never signed on with Pearl, choosing to play at Wisconsin-Green Bay instead. What stands out about O'Neil and Forde's story to me: how radioactive it still is. We've got a fairly decent Horizon League player who is a year and a half removed from graduation, yet no one was willing to speak on the record about the ordeal.
Pearl was with the Panthers for four years, from 2001 to 2005. In 2003 and 2005, his team made the NCAA tournament, and his Sweet 16 appearance with his 12th-seeded UW-Milwaukee team was what sprung him into the SEC shortly after the season ended.
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