That’s where the Vols head this week, taking on the Gators in Gainesville for the  Southeastern Conference opener. It’ll also be Bray’s first start outside the state of Tennessee. He’s leading one of the top passing offenses in the country, but can he and the Vols keep it up against stiffer competition?

Tennessee coach Derek Dooley joined 790 The Zone in Atlanta with Barnhart and Durham to discuss the prolific play by his offense so far this season, particularly last week against Cincinnati, his biggest concerns with the Vols’ upcoming showdown with the rival Florida Gators, the emergence of quarterback Tyler Bray in his sophomore season, his team’s lack of experience in SEC road games, and the progression of the Vols’ defense.

Boy you really had your offense lighting it up against Cincinnati last week, didn’t you?:

“Our offense was really on all cylinders against Cincinnati and we needed to be because they’ve got a heckuva offense themselves. I was really proud of how we played the first two games. We did what Tennessee should do and now we’ll find out if we can become a player in the SEC.”

What are your biggest concerns with Florida?:

“Well, let’s start with they probably have the most talented defensive line in the country. Big and athletic guys up front. No matter how good our offense is playing and no matter how good our passing game’s been looking, if our five can’t block their four, it’s going to be a long day for Tennessee. On offense, even though they’re doing some things differently, schematically, they’re still doing a great job of getting their fast guys the ball in space.”

Quarterback Tyler Bray has put up some great numbers and played well, but is this the toughest defense he has faced?:

“I think it’s fair to say. That North Carolina defense that we faced in the bowl game was pretty good. They were really talented. Tyler, he’s 6-1 as a starter, he’s completed about 63 percent of his balls, he’s averaging about over 9 yards an attempt. He’s got some big numbers, but he just hasn’t proved it over time. Not everybody can do it against the teams he’s done it against, so I think that’s a good starting point. Now he’s going to have to learn to do it against some of the best teams in the league. … He hasn’t started a football game outside of the state of Tennessee. Most people don’t realize that. We played at Memphis, we played Vanderbilt at Nashville and we played at the Music City Bowl. … It’s going to be a challenge this week.”

On taking a team full of players that have never really played at Florida out on the road:

“We’ve had a total transformation of our roster and our football team. We’re heading down there with 17 freshmen and sophomores starting, so this is all going to be a new experience for them. We’re going to have to go get some scars. That’s the only way you can grow and develop into being a good team is to get some scars on you.”

Are you making the kind of progress you want to make on defense?:

“The jury’s still out. We’ve played OK. We’re really young on defense. We’ve started three true freshman. … We’ve made a lot of mistakes. It looks like a young defense out there. The good news is they’re playing hard. I think we have the right kind of guys in a lot of places. I think we’ll keep getting better each week. But, the offenses are going to get better and better. We haven’t been fully tested.”

Listen to Derek Dooley on 790 The Zone in Atlanta here

Pearl is a tremendous coach and has had success everywhere he has gone but his next step may have to be at the D-League level, where he already has an offer from the Texas Legends.

Bruce Pearl joined WGFX in Nashville on the Three Hour Lunch to talk about how relieved he is that the process has been completed, if he plans on appealing the decision, on other coaches following his example from here on out, how the NCAA received the photo that ultimately led to his demise, and what is next for him in his career.

How relieved he is that the process is complete now:

“It’s a relief that the University received no further penalties and the basketball program is eligible for the postseason and didn’t lose any scholarships. That is definitely a relief and yes it’s a relief that the process has concluded. I accept responsibility for what I did and all the resulting consequences but I’m disappointed with the length of the show-cause penalty. I thought it was longer than I was anticipating or thought it could be but these are the times and I’m gonna serve as a good example of what can happen when you make these mistakes.”

If he plans on appealing:

“There is an appeal process but the appeal process is difficult and also I’ve studied the statistics on these things and they just rarely reverse what the committee has ruled. I disagree with the committee’s findings on several of the violations involving our conduct. On the day of the investigation, the day they came in prior to my interview, when I heard about this picture of myself and Aaron Craft, I called John Craft prior to my interview. I should never have called John Craft regardless of the conversation that violated the integrity of the investigation. Technically could I have called him before my interview? I suppose and certainly afterwards when I called him back after I had my interview we spoke two times that day. I never asked him to modify or change his story and on four or five occasions the enforcement staff asked him ‘did you believe Coach Pearl tried to change your story?’ Four or five times he said no. But I shouldn’t have called him because it interfered with the integrity of the investigation. Based on that I got hit with a major violation. Not everything in there I agree with but at the same time I can’t deny what I did and I can’t deny the mistakes that I made. If I had been more forthcoming and I had been honest the first time, I got very little credit for coming back and telling the truth and it’s unfortunate because if you do make a mistake and come back pretty quickly and say hey I need to be interviewed again I made a mistake and I didn’t provide information, I don’t know that I got much of a benefit on that. So hopefully that won’t be a deterrent to the next guy that finds himself in that situation.”

On coaches learning from his mistakes:

“The only way to answer that question is to say don’t lie to begin with and you have to be forthcoming right from the jump. Yes you would like for them to be able to turn around and come back and I did and even in my second interview the interview started with Coach Pearl we are back at your request, but that didn’t add up to much because the damage had already been done. The other thing too is regardless how minor, when the NCAA comes in you must have your own attorney. Someone that is going to look out for your interests and if there is something that comes up that you’re not prepared for, we prepared for 14 months for that meeting. We had to prepare a lot of things regarding phone calls, they looked at every expense report, every visit, every unofficial visit, every home visit, and eventually they came up with a few things that were secondary in nature. Then the picture came as a complete surprise. I panicked, our coaches didn’t tell the truth, well I don’t want to say they didn’t tell the truth because the coaches may not have recognized where the picture was taken and the whole thing blew completely out of (proportion), if I had an attorney there and known about the picture a few days in advance I probably would’ve had an attorney there and we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

How the NCAA learned about the photo of Aaron Craft:

“Somebody sent it in. Regardless of that the rest of it would simply be speculation.”

On the NCAA as a whole:

“99 percent of what goes on in Intercollegiate Athletics is wonderful, beyond wonderful. There’s a very small percentage that isn’t. This is part of that. Right now we are in the midst of an unprecedented number of challenges and cases involving the NCAA. That’s going to continue for a period of time. Mark Emmert has made the statements and I agree with him. We have to make tougher penalties so it acts like a deterrent and unfortunately I’m a victim of that.”

On what is next for him:

“I don’t think anybody is going to come to the NCAA for a few years. Is it possible that they will come before the end of the show-cause? Yeah maybe. I don’t have a crystal ball. All I’ve done for the last 33 years is coach. I don’t really know. It’s devastating. It’s devastating to my family, to my assistant coaches and their families. The timing of this was difficult. Clearly that thump at Oak Hill and the timing of that, our Chancellor has gone on record saying that charge as a major violation was really the beginning of the end for me. I was in a vulnerable situation and I was charged with another major that wasn’t even cited in the report because it wasn’t even secondary. I made attempts in the framework of that 20 or 30 second conversation to terminate the contact and it was just very unfortunate. In my press conference today I addressed that I think the NCAA should’ve taken greater care given the difficult situation I was in, by charging me with that, it put me in a very difficult position.”

Listen to Bruce Pearl on WGFX here

He discusses that opportunity in the following interview, but also expounds on the situation that led to his investigation and firing from the University of Tennessee. Part of his explanation includes the simple thought that it was God’s plan for him to no longer be coaching the Volunteers.

Bruce Pearl joined 104.5 The Zone in Nashville with Three Hour Lunch to discuss his D-League opportunity, if he’s leaning toward taking that job, how he was made an example of at Tennessee, why he thinks he’ll coach again in college, if he has trouble forgetting the interview that led to his firing, how the situation could have been handled better and to once again defend his situation compared to some others going on around the country.

How did your interview go with the NBA Developmental League’s Texas Thunder?:

“It really went well. It’s a really interesting opportunity…Their entire coaching staff has really reached out to me and this would be an opportunity to learn the pro game. … The quality of the player is a step up from college and you sort of get to be a part of that NBA fraternity, which is hard to break into.”

Are you leaning toward taking the job?:

“Prior to going down to Dallas for my interview the lean was that I was probably not going to do it. But having been there and met the people the lean now is that it’s a possibility. It’s a family decision. I’d have to leave my family. I’m a divorced dad, and there’d be some kids that aren’t out of school yet and in college yet that are encouraging me that are saying, “Daddy it’s only six months, you should go.”

On being made an example of:

“Who wants to go through what I went through at Tennessee? What I went through personally and what my coaching staff went through?…It’s not death, but it’s devastating. So we serve as a very visible example — not so much for what we did — what we did was secondary for the most part as far as some of the violations and the rules, but the way we handled the investigation, it went wrong. We tried to correct it…But I don’t mind serving as an example of a very, very heavy price to pay for some of those mistakes.”

How do you think the NCAA ended up with the photograph of recruit Aaron Craft at your house, which ultimately led to the entire situation?:

“It doesn’t matter and I don’t have any idea how it got there. That’s really not the point. And I understand that there were some questions about how the picture was delivered, and the timing of the investigation, what the focus was or wasn’t, and that stuff will be discussed at a later date. Can’t talk about it now, because we’re still in the midst of the process. We’ll wait to hear what the committee has to say … All we can do is pray that we’ll be treated fairly.”

Do you think you’ll coach in the college arena again?:

“Yeah, I would. I certainly would. As soon as I’m allowed it would be my intention. I’ve been doing it my entire life and I would like to think that the good outweighs the bad. And the good has very little to do with winning or losing, it has to do with..six kids graduating this year.”

Do you have trouble forgetting about the interview that cost you the job?:

“Unfortunately it is in my mind, it is in my heart. When you wake up, when you go to bed, it crosses your mind all the time. But that’s a cross that I’ve got bear and it’s not just that interview, but it’s how everything turned out. I continue to swallow a major pill of accountability. … God’s got a plan and His plan was that we were going to be done coaching at Tennessee at this time. That was His plan. And we’re going to follow it, follow it with as much honor and integrity as we can. But I’m not going to deny that we’re sad and that we’re disappointed.”

On how poorly the entire situation was handled:

“Some of the counsel, some of the decisions, some of the moves that we made, we just couldn’t have handled it any worse. We made a situation that was bad wind up being disastrous.”

Once again defending himself when comparing to the violations other programs around the country are going through:

“We didn’t have ineligible student athletes, and we didn’t pay players, and there weren’t agents involved, and there was no academic fraud; there’s a lot of things that this wasn’t, but there were some things about it that were wrong…Those were some of the reasons why I feel like we could have gotten through this thing together.”

Listen to Bruce Pearl on 104.5 The Zone in Nashville here

In his first radio interview since being fired, Pearl is reflective and shared what he can about the process. He still can’t talk specifics as the Committee On Infractions has yet to make a ruling, but he’s not entirely mum on the whole ordeal. Pearl mentions that he answered just two questions during the investigation falsely and he believes if he simply would have answered them truthfully from the get go, he’d still have his job. Pearl also says he expects the opportunity to land another job. That’s been the big question with many of the coaches who have been fired surrounding recent NCAA troubles. Pearl thinks he’ll get a shot, it’s simply a matter of when the NCAA will allow it to happen.

Bruce Pearl joined 790 The Zone in Atlanta with Mayhem in the AM to discuss how Tennessee residents have largely been supportive of him since his firing, if and when he thinks he’ll have the opportunity to coach again, if he believes the situation at Ohio State impacted his current situation in any way, the moments where he sits and thinks about how things could have unraveled for him like this, if there’s a moment where he thinks he could have saved his job, and where the NCAA investigation stands.

On receiving mostly positive feedback from Tennessee fans since he was fired:

“That’s one of the things that’s been a real blessing. Even when Tennessee was considering letting me go at the end of the season, my approval rating was like 90 percent in a statewide poll. I think it’s because our fans have some appreciation for, I think, what we have done, the history of Tennessee basketball and the fact it had been a while since they had been successful. I think they appreciate some of the things we were trying to do in the community. The good outweighed the bad and, quite honestly, we live in a Christian community. … I’m genuinely grateful for that, because I’ve asked for their forgiveness.”

Do you think you’ll coach again?:

“I don’t know. I do think that I’m going to have the opportunity to coach again. I’ve got to wait and see what the Committee on Infractions, what they say, probably coming up sometime in the middle of August and how quickly will they allow me to come back into coaching. That’s going to go a long way towards whether or not I do coach again.”

What were your thoughts as Jim Tressel went through his situation at Ohio State?:

“Originally I thought it was going to be a good thing for me, and you know what? That’s a sorry thing to say. I read Coach Tressel’s book, I’ve heard a lot about him as a coach and a person and most of it’s really outstanding. I think that it wound up hurting me because, times as they are right now, we all kind of get lumped into one, big ‘These are the guys that violate the rules. These are the cheaters.’ I actually think that trend has kind of hurt me a little bit.”

Did you have some of those moments where you just sat there and thought, ‘How did I get to this?’:

“I’m still having them. Do you want me to write the book about how do you lose $1o million jobs? I can write the book. How can you be so dumb and so careless? … It’s not so much about what we did, it’s about how we handled it. I think in Coach Tressel’s situation, he had a situation where it wasn’t so much what he did, it’s how he handled it. The difference there would be he handled it in such a way where he played ineligible players and Ohio State gained tremendously from their play. That’s not part of our equation here. … If your guys are involved in a situation, you’ve got to kick it up to a boss as quick as you possibly can and trust the system. I don’t know that we all trust the system enough to make that call.”

Can you pinpoint one time where if you would have done something differently that you would still have a job?:

“I think there was some decisions that we made. Specifically, in my visit with the enforcement staff. I answered about 150 questions. I answered 148 of them honestly. There were two questions that I did not answer honestly. Had I answered those two questions knowingly, willingly, honestly, instead of a week later asking them to come back because I knew I had made a mistake … you guys would be interviewing the coach at Tennessee.”

On his recent meetings in Indianapolis:

“My impression of it right now was fair. My impression of it right now is I got my day in court. My impression was they were genuinely, as a committee, very much interested in listening to what happened and, to the best of their ability, trying to determine what we did wrong. Now we’re waiting on the penalty phase. … We really had penalized ourselves tremendously. We had taken ourselves off the road. There were a lot of things we had done taking ourselves off the phone. I had been suspended eight games by Commissioner Slive. … And we lost our jobs on top of everything. The question, then, was, ‘At what point does the crime fit the punishment?’ That’s what they’re going to decide.”

Listen to Bruce Pearl on 790 The Zone in Atlanta here

Martin, who played college ball under Gene Keady at Purdue and went on to play a couple of years in the NBA, was an assistant at his alma mater before serving for three seasons at Missouri State. He was also rumored to be a part of several other open coaching searches, but wound up biting on the one that may have the most intrigue.

The NCAA investigation surrounding former Tennessee Bruce Pearl is well known by now, but what isn’t is what penalty the NCAA might levy against the Vols program. Martin says Tennessee officials gave him no indication that major penalties were on the way, so he’s not particularly worried about it.

Cuonzo Martin joined WGFX in Nashville with The Three Hour Lunch to discuss what the past few days was like, his early impressions of the team, why he chose Tennessee when he was rumored to be up for other gigs, where he learned his work ethic, what style of play he’ll implement at Tennessee, how current Vols players Scotty Hopson and Tobias Harris should go about evaluating whether to stay or go pro and why he’s not concerned about pending NCAA findings.

What have the last few days been like?:

“These last three days, I think I’ve probably got six hours sleep combined.”

His impressions of Tennessee when he took his Missouri State team there this year:

“They have some talented players. I think the key now, with the guys returning, is to see how they fit with what we like to do. Their success is success, but there’s more than one way to skin a cat. For us, it’s hard-nosed, man-to-man defense, a motion-style offense. … The talent is definitely there. There’s a core seven, possibly nine, guys.”

With perhaps multiple suitors, when did he know Tennessee is where he wanted to be?:

“My wife and I were constantly praying and having faith. This is a great situation. I just thought it was a great opportunity. There was a lot of speculation I would go other places, but this is where I wanted to be, this is where my wife wanted to be.”

On how he learned the work ethic that he preaches:

“I think that’s the biggest key as a basketball player. In high school, I was basically a center at 6-5, a slashing center. When I got to college I really had to develop my perimeter skills. … My  junior and senior year I shot about 5,000 3-point shots a week and developed into a really good 3-point shooter.”

What kind of style will he use at Tennessee?:

“We’ll play a hard-nosed, aggressive man-to-man and run a motion offense with about 15 set plays. The key for us is scoring the ball at a high level, but not turning it over. That’s the biggest key. We don’t want to have 15, 16 turnovers a game, we want to keep it at or under 10.”

Will he use his experience as a pro player to help Scotty Hopson and Tobias Harris make the decision to stay or go?:

“I’ve been there. Even though I didn’t play a long time, I’ve been there. What happens when you’re a very talented player, a great player, you want to be around great players. I think, for those guys, it’s to really test the waters and get a gauge for what the NBA scouts are saying. They also have to be true to themselves and really listen to what those scouts are saying. You can’t deny the fact they say you have a glaring weakness, you have to work on it. … You don’t want them to go into the draft and it doesn’t work out for them.”

Did the NCAA troubles that Bruce Pearl left behind play any role in his decision?:

“I think it’s a great situation. I think, for us, it’s building a program and being successful. I wasn’t really concerned with the NCAA. Once I talked to Mike and these guys and they said … ‘We’ll find something out in June and we think we’ll be OK. We might get here and there, but we don’t think it’ll be anything major,’ I was fine with that.”

Listen to Cuonzo Martin on WGFX in Nashville here

Now, as the SEC tournament gets under way, Tennessee is hanging on to its NCAA tournament life. The Vols went just 8-8 in conference play, falling all the way to fourth place in the East. That also leaves them opening the tournament against Arkansas, a team with a similar record that beat Tennessee in the teams’ only meeting this season.

The Vols could be considered a sleeper team heading into the postseason, having beaten big-named teams earlier in the year. But they’ll likely have to regain that early-season magic that they seem to have lost.

Bruce Pearl joined WGFX in Nashville with Three Hour Lunch to discuss having a clean slate entering the conference tournament, why his team has struggled in late-game situations, his teams spot on the NCAA tournament bubble, regaining that early-season magic and calling out his team publicly.

Does he view the SEC tournament as a clean slate?:

“Well, I think you look at them, for me, one at a time. The next opponent is Arkansas and you can’t win them all if you don’t win the first. … I don’t know how much the slate is cleaned in the sense that you look back at your experience and you say, ‘You know what? We’re a team that can beat the best teams on our schedule.’ We have done so at times. I don’t think there’s anybody in the league that’s head and shoulders running away from everybody else.”

Will Brian Williams be back this week?:

“I think he can go, but the question is how he’s going to respond after the workout. As far as getting him back in concerned, it’ll be good to get him back, but we probably won’t get him back in the same role as when he left.”

Why his team has struggled in critical late-game situations:

“I would think it’s probably experience being in those situations. … With the exception of Scotty Hopson, there’s really nobody else on the team that you would put in that category. There have been times when we’ve not done as good a job of getting Scotty the ball in a position to be able to win or lose that basketball game.”

Is his team still on the tournament bubble?:

“I do in the sense that the 9′s, 10′s, 11′s [seeds] are probably the last line that are at-large. And so, yeah, I feel like the more you win the better the position you put yourself in. Obviously the body of work is what you’re judged on and when you’re 2 or 3 in strength of schedule and you play as many games on the road as we do, I think you put yourself in position.”

How can he get the magic back from the early part of the season when the Vols were fairly successful against that tough schedule?:

“I don’t know. We have not been able to get it back all season. I don’t know that I can wave a magic wand and get it back. … What happens is, sometimes the book gets out and then you’ve got to go to Plan B or C. I haven’t had a Plan B or C that’s been good enough.”

On the strategy of calling out his team:

“I think I’ve called out my team, including myself, in the sense that when I challenged our leadership, who does that speak to? That could speak to seniors, it could speak to your best players, it certainly speaks to your head coach and coaching staff. … Coaches can lead teams to victory in games, but you can’t lead them to championships. … It was a good message that was delivered. I’ll tell you what, our play hasn’t improved that significantly, but our attitude has.”

Listen to Bruce Pearl on WGFX in Nashville here

Then, on top of all that, the Volunteers lost an exhibition game to Chattanooga. No, it certainly hasn’t been an easy few months for Pearl. He’d love to put some of that in the rear-view with a successful NIT Season Tip-off.

Bruce Pearl joined WGFX in Nashville on the Three Hour Lunch to discuss the start to the season, losing the exhibition game, giving the ball to Scotty Hopson more, how a coach figures out what buttons to push with different players, the status of his new contract, trying to get to New York as part of the preseason NIT and to apologize for his discretion.

On whether it simply feels good for his team to get to playing again:

“It’s good to be playing basketball, no question. I wish my team was playing better. I’ve got a new team, not a young team but a new team, with three or four new starters. Some of the guys who were playing complementary roles a year ago … are now asked to be the starters and the leaders.”

On losing the exhibition game:

“I knew it could happen and we certainly prepared but I certainly didn’t over-prepare them. It’s a blessing, maybe, that it happened, but it also is a red flag. My teams are rarely out there on the floor and the less-excitable club and we were that night and I think it’s a great lesson for guys to see this is what happens when the other team wants it more than you do. … When you take Belmont last year and they lose in the conference tournament first round, don’t go to the NCAA Tournament, it sits in their stomach all year. You take Tennessee and we go to the Elite Eight and the best season, at least in the NCAA Tournament, that we’ve ever had … and you feel good about yourself. And I thought that this team was feeling a little bit too good about themselves … and we got embarrassed.”

On going to Scotty Hopson more:

“We’d like for Scotty to be our leading scorer because he is our toughest matchup and our best scorer. Sometimes it depends on matchups. … Scotty did get the most shots off against Chattanooga. … He is getting his hands on the ball in the right situations. But for Scotty, it’s more than that in the sense that he can score for me and we can win games. For him to grow as a player and be the great player that we hope he’s capable of, it’s about stuffing the statsheet with other things as well.”

On the status of his new contract:

“Well, you know, negotiating is an interesting word. [Athletic director Mike Hamilton] and I, at the end of every season, basically agree in principle to what the contract needs to look like and we’ve done that here. And then basically we turn it over to the lawyers and they put something out, I guess, just shortly after my initial contract was revoked and terminated, and we got it back them within a couple weeks and they’ve had it now for about three or four weeks. And so I’m waiting for them to come back to me with something. … Mike and I have some agreements in principle and it’s just a matter of dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s. Would love to have it done and I’d be very, very anxious to get it back.”

On trying to get to New York City as part of the Preseason Tip-Off:

“Don’t pencil UCLA, Wake Forest, Tennessee or Villanova in because there are really good teams. At this time of year mid-majors are primed. Where was Kennesaw State picked in that league?”

Apologizing at the end of the interview:

“Appreciate your patience. I’m very sorry that I let you down. I let a bunch of folks down, but we’re going to let the good outweigh the bad and hopefully we can have another successful season.”

Listen to Bruce Pearl on WGFX in Nashville here

Is Bruce Pearl a cheater? Maybe more appropriately, if Bruce Pearl does cheat, is he any worse than the typical college basketball coach? It’s very difficult to tell. Obviously, lying and being investigated by the NCAA multiple times are not good signs, yet Pearl remains positive and confident that his actions gained no significant advantage in recruiting. He says and does all the right things in the media and the public. Yet how should we take those words when he is in trouble for lying? I like Pearl. I loved him at UWM and he’s fun to watch and listen to at Tennessee, but I feel like an example is being made out of him and the penalties may get worse – and he has no one to blame but himself.

University of Tennessee head basketball coach Bruce Pearl joined 790 the Zone with Mayhem in the AM in Atlanta to discuss his hypocrisy in preaching character when he has committed multiple NCAA violations, if Tennessee would be justified in letting him go,  when and how he understood the repercussions of lying to and misleading the NCAA, if his reputation will survive this and getting back to practice with his team.

On the hypocrisy of preaching character to players given his recent actions:

“You can’t explain it away. I have no credible reason for a couple of the reasons I made. As you know, we have an on-going NCAA investigation so there are a lot of things that I can’t comment on. But, I have provided false and misleading information to the NCAA in some questioning. All of this is going to come out obviously. The people at the University of Tennessee, while this is very serious and we have taken some unprecedented penalties, did not feel like my conduct rose to the level of my being terminated, so we are moving forward… I will say, and I do believe very strongly that in the things that we did, we did not gain a tremendous recruiting advantage. We made some bad decisions and we are paying a very serious price… Adversity does not build character, it reveals character.”

On if he thinks that Tennessee would be justified in letting him go:

“I don’t think so. No. I think it is certainly up for discussion. I don’t believe that that would be the case, otherwise that would be what’s taken place.”

On understanding the repercussions of lying to the NCAA:

“Immediately sickening and difficult. I came back and tried to remedy the situation, but, again, I can’t talk about the specifics. I cannot give you a fair and a good reason why I didn’t tell the truth… I should have handled this situation like I handled the last time and that was to self report a violation that at that time was secondary… I feel good support from the university. This is where I want to be. I want to be at Tennessee for a long, long time.”

On if he will be able to survive this:

“I believe that I will. I don’t think that this is going to define me. You have an opportunity in life to do some good and sometimes there will be some bad. I hope and pray that the good outweighs the bad. We are very serious about compliance, very serious about what we have done. I don’t have a crystal ball. I can’t predict the future. But I can stand on my record in the past, know what I did and continue moving forward.”

And on getting back to practice with so much outside drama:

“It’s been great therapy. We are going to continue to coach, continue to recruit and continue to compete in the SEC. Obviously, when things don’t go well and you are around your friends and your family and the people you care about, it is great therapy. So it’s been good. We have our challenges this year… I’ve had the moment. I’ve had more than the moment and I told them that, ‘If you think for one second that I am going to ease off the pedal and expect less than you because I failed, you got something else coming.’ They understand that and they are behind me 100%.”

Listen to Bruce Pearl on 790 the Zone in Atlanta with Mayhem in the AM.

Dooley, who is the son of legendary UGA coach Vince Dooley, comes with a pedigree that demands respect and even though his head coaching experience is limited he has learned from one of college football’s best coaches, Nick Saban.  He was an assistant with Saban for seven years when Saban was at LSU and with the Miami Dolphins.  Tennessee should be patient with Dooley and give him time to recruit because this year they are going to be bad.  They only have a handful of players on their roster with playing experience and have a junior college transfer in Matt Simms starting at quarterback.  Still, Dooley seems to be more about substance than style, and that is sitting well with Vols Nation and the rest of the SEC.

Derek Dooley joined 790 the Zone in Atlanta to talk about whether Matt Simms is going to be the starting quarterback, people feeling sorry for him and whether Tennessee’s football season is going to be as bad as people think it will be this year, and his father Vince Dooley saying that he would wear Tennessee orange when they play Georgia.

Whether he is relieved that he can now focus on football rather than the off-the-field issues:

“Well we certainly haven’t been short of stories up here.  I felt like it was important we keep things exciting for the fans during the offseason so we did a pretty good job of that and everybody is ready to get started this Saturday.”

Whether Matt Simms is going to be the starting quarterback:

“Yeah Matt has had a real good camp and he has really improved since the day he got here.  He has only been here since January so he is new to the program, he is new to the guys around him but I felt like we have made a tremendous amount of progress over the course of training camp.”

On people feeling sorry for him and whether Tennessee’s football season is going to be as bad as people think it will be this year:

“I don’t know why anybody would feel sorry for me.  I have been real blessed in my life and I have got as good a job anywhere in the country.  Do we have our challenges?  Of course we do.  You look at our 2-Deep and we have 18 freshman on our 2-Deep.  The good news is that we have some good, young, talented freshman.  It will be a lot of fun to watch them grow, but I know out there in that first game it is like anything.  Anytime you do something the first time you never do it as well as you can.  So it will be fun to watch them but we will be holding our breath on a few plays.”

Whether there is open-competition at all of the positions:

“Well yeah they asked me, who has a job?  But we only had about 5 or 6 players returning that had any experience at all out there playing.  Nobody was really entitled to a job and certainly hasn’t done anything to earn it and it is still going to be the case even though we felt like we settled in on our 2-Deep, we don’t know how most of these guys are going to react when they get under the lights because as you know, when the lights come on some guys elevate their game some guys tend to not play as well as they do in practice.”

What the best example he has seen while on campus of the passion for the University of Tennessee football:

“I will tell you that I see it everywhere I go and it has validated everything that I thought about the Tennessee fans and how much they love this place and it is unconditional support because despite what these fans have been through the last two years, it has just been overwhelming how gracious everybody has been, how supportive they have been.  They bleed orange up here and they are going to be with us thick and thin and that is one of the things that makes this program special.  That is one of the things that makes this program win and it has always won and it is going to win.”

How important it was for him to embrace the tradition of Tennessee football:

“It would be important for me to do that no matter where I go.  You know tradition is what links us to the past.  It makes your whole experience special.  You leave a part of it with you and it was important for me to educate our team on a lot of the traditions at Tennessee.  I was surprised at how little they knew about the traditions here.  You take it for granted.  There is so many things that you see all of the time and I saw it as a young child watching Tennessee from the outside but these players have really enjoyed it.  We have embraced a few traditions of the past and we are probably going to start a few of our own.”

On Vince Dooley saying that he would wear Tennessee orange when they play Georgia:

“What is amazing to me is that it surprises people.  Anybody that has children is shocked that a father would pull for his son but that is the beauty of athletics.  It is like everybody’s team is more important than their family.  We have had a lot of fun with it and I am amazed at how interested everybody is in what my parents will wear on game day.  I guess that is what makes college football special.”

Derek Dooley on 790 the Zone in ATL with Mayhem in the AM

Now Foster has one of the greater turnaround stories heading into the 2010 season. With Ben Tate out for the season with an ugly leg injury, Foster looks to be the clear cut starter at running back for the Houston Texans this season. In other words, he’s gone from undrafted, to also-ran, to starter, to fantasy football sleeper pick (hint, hint).

Arian Foster joined KILT in Houston with Kyle and ND to discuss his latest preseason performance, what it’s like to play after waiting so long to show what he could do, how the NFL experience has lived up to his expectations, the Houston Texans’ running back battle, his words of wisdom, what he’d like to do after his career is over and his thoughts on whether he’s locked up the starting spot.

On his last preseason games, which included six carries, 28 yards and a touchdown:

“We weren’t too pleased with it. We’ve got a lot of kinks and wrinkles to work out, but that’s just part of the preseason. You grow as a team and get hit in the mouth and it’s all about how you respond.”

On how it feels to play after going undrafted and having to sit out most of last season:

“It was tough, but that’s kind of been the story of my life. Things never happen for me immediately; it’s always a test. It’s always a test mentally and physically. Patience is a virtue and whenever I got my opportunity and I stepped in. It was tough, but that’s just life.”

On whether the NFL has lived up to his expectations:

“That’s hard to say. You expect so much of the NFL because as a kid you watch it and idolize the players that are in it and everything that surrounds it. It’s surreal for a while, but once you get in and once you’re playing and once you’re playing good, the game slows down and becomes football again. It’s fun to play.”

On Jeremiah Johnson’s role in the running back battle:

“I talk to him all the time and tell him ‘Just be patient and whenever you get your opportunity, make sure you make the best of it. This league is all about opportunities and you never know when you’re going to get it, so don’t just stroll along and then, all of the sudden, bam, it’s your time to get in and you’re not prepared.”

On his words of wisdom on the Texans’ website, including this gem: “I think that the rain is unbiased and the recipient of this downfall has the option to accept this or yell at the clouds his whole life”:

“I think it means life just hands you what it hands you. I think that 90 percent of somebody’s outcome is probably their attitude and how their mindset is going into it. People get handed bad things all the time in life and it’s all about how you take it. If you take it negatively then you’re probably going to have more negatives to come. If you have a positive outlook on life, I think your life will lead you in a positive direction.”

On, considering his words of wisdom and philosophy degree, what he’d like to do after football:

“I’m somewhat of an entrepreneur. I’d like to explore some options out there. They’re all premature ideas right now, but a couple of things that I’ve been thinking about, like me and my brother want to get into some physical training, opening up a new physical training center. … Just a lot of little, small business ventures.”

On whether he feels the starting spot is his:

“I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t want the starting spot. That’d be a bald-faced lie. I worked real hard this offseason. I was up at 5:30 in the morning with my brother training and I feel like whatever happens, happens. But I know one thing, whenever I get on the field, I get a chance to showcase what I’ve been working for since I was 7. … I’m going to play when they tell me to play and I’m going to help this team win.”

Listen to the interview with Arian Foster on KILT in Houston here