Inevitably, he’d still be at his desk inside his H.T. Hackney to suffer.ĭuring basketball season, he’d often fly to ESPN’s studios in Bristol, Connecticut, on Thursdays and return on Sunday evenings. When Pearl later accepted jobs calling games and doing studio analysis for ESPN, and hosting a college basketball show on Sirius XM radio, he never allowed his role at H.T. Hackney’s salesforce and customer service team, making sure their efforts aligned with the company’s overall strategies. He also helped train, manage and motivate H.T. “It was a really fun day.”īuilding relationships with potential customers and strengthening ties with existing ones were two of Pearl’s main responsibilities at H.T.

“I can see why players want to play for him,” Rhoads said. The former Tennessee coach took time to visit every office to introduce himself, take pictures and sign autographs. While Rhoads’ company ultimately stuck with their wholesaler, it wasn’t because Pearl lacked energy or initiative. Hackney when their existing grocery wholesaler contract expired. Pearl wanted to arrange a visit to develop relationships with the company’s key executives in hopes of persuading them to switch to H.T.

Rhoads’ company owns and operates 38 convenience stores across Tennessee and Virginia. “Oh, I know who you are!” Rhoads responded. “I don’t know if you know me, but I used to coach UT,” Pearl began. Almost instantly, the lifelong Tennessee fan recognized that the distinctive voice on the other end of the line belonged to the former Vols men’s basketball coach. Skeptical yet intrigued, Rhoads picked up the phone and said hello. In December 2011, the receptionist at her office asked Rhoads if she would speak to a man named Bruce Pearl who had just called to make an appointment. Nickie Rhoads assumed she was being pranked. It's all about business, motivating for Bruce Pearl After Pearl lost the Tennessee job by lying to NCAA investigators about recruiting violations that he committed, Sansom saw Pearl as a good gamble because many of the qualities that made him a successful coach translated to the business world. After that, Sansom said, “Bruce learned a lot about Jesus and the New Testament and we learned a lot about Bruce.”Įven so, Sansom says he’s too shrewd a businessman to hire a friend as a charity case. They met in improbable fashion four years earlier when Pearl became the only Jewish person to join Sansom’s bible study at a Knoxville Presbyterian church.

In some ways, Sansom’s job offer at Pearl’s darkest moment was a byproduct of their tight-knit friendship. Hackney, asked Pearl, “Have you ever considered going into business?” The CEO of the Knoxville-based wholesale grocery distributor, H.T. Sansom, a wealthy businessman and former University of Tennessee trustee, listened patiently to Pearl’s dilemma before proposing a potential mutually beneficial solution. The newly divorced father of four told Sansom he needed a job to pay his bills and provide for his family, but he hated the idea of moving over 800 miles from his children, the two youngest of whom attended high school in Knoxville at the time. Over dinner and drinks at his friend Bill Sansom’s house in August 2011, Pearl confessed that he was reluctant to leave Knoxville. “It was a real ticket to the NBA,” Pearl told Yahoo Sports.Īnd yet, for days, Pearl agonized over whether to accept it.

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