Bruce Pearl may be returning to the sidelines next season — not with a college team, but with the Celtics, sort of.
According to a report by Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, the Maine Red Claws, the NBA D-League affiliate of the Celtics and Charlotte Bobcats, are interested in hiring Pearl to be their next head coach. On Friday, Red Claws president and general manager Jon Jennings confirmed the team's interest, Wojnarowski said in his report.
Pearl was fired as the head coach at Tennessee in late March after a rocky 2010-11 season, which ended with a 30-point loss to Michigan in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Pearl coached the entire year with a voided contract after he admitted to lying to NCAA investigators back in September. He was also forced to serve an eight-game SEC suspension at the beginning of conference play.
Pearl, who grew up in Sharon, Mass., is a graduate and former manager at Boston College. The ex-Tennessee coach is still awaiting a final ruling from the NCAA.
