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The house Bruce Pearl once told NCAA investigators he didn't recognize is now on the market.
The former Tennessee coach told the Knoxville News-Sentinel that he's selling his 10,200-square foot mansion in the swanky Knoxville suburb of Gettysvue for an initial asking price of $2.69 million. That's the same house where Pearl broke NCAA rules by hosting two recruits at a barbecue two years ago, a minor violation that became serious enough to cost him his job when he lied to investigators about it.
Very few of us can afford to purchase the structure where Tennessee's rapidly improving basketball program began to unravel, but those who have deep pockets and a fondness for sticky Tennessee summers can bid on more than just a historic home. Here's how broker Debbie Elliott-Sexton describes the five-bedroom, 6 1/2-bathroom stone and brick home in an advertisement announcing that it's on the market:
"Truly a home built for entertaining!" she wrote. "Outdoor, open-air pool house with kitchen and bathroom and fireplace, with inground pool. Media room, billiard room, library, gym. Master suite on the main with fireplace in bedroom and bathroom. Extensive lutron lighting system. Copper gas lanterns."
In the nearly six months since Tennessee fired Pearl, he told the News-Sentinel he has realized he no longer needs such a big house to entertain prominent boosters or host charity events anymore. He'll no longer have those responsibilities whether he accepts an offer to coach the Dallas Mavericks' D-League franchise or opts to take a year off from coaching and do some TV work.
Regardless of what the future holds for Pearl, he still considers the Knoxville area his home. He told the News-Sentinel he'd like to purchase a smaller house along one of the many lakes surrounding the city.