Bruce Pearl defends Vandy over Memorial Gym change

Vanderbilt got an unlikely advocate in Bruce Pearl in a fight to keep Memorial Gym's coaching box as it's been for 63 years, but it proved a losing cause.

Pearl, the former Tennessee and current Auburn coach, said he voted against forcing Vanderbilt to extend its unique coaching box from the baseline to the sideline next season.

"I believe in tradition, and that's Vanderbilt's home court," Pearl said. "They should be able to decide how they want it operated."

Pearl was apparently among the few Vanderbilt supporters in a straw vote of SEC basketball coaches held last spring, which resulted in the SEC requesting the NCAA mandate a change in the long-standing Memorial Gym setup.

In regards to those voting for the change, Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said he was "disappointed that we had some people whine about a coaching box that's been in play for many, many years … But I had some support from a couple of the guys in the league, but not enough apparently."

The Memorial Gym coaching boxes, which have been along the baseline since the arena's construction in 1952, will be extended down the north sideline beyond the 3-point line and toward the scorer's table, beginning in the 2015-16 season. Head coaches, not assistants, will be allowed to walk throughout the box during games. Per the current rules, players will remain in the bench area on the baseline except when going to the scorer's table to check into the game.

The SEC submitted a request to the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Rules Committee following the 2014 annual SEC Spring Meetings last May to extend the Memorial Gym coaching box, according to SEC spokesman Craig Pinkerton.

And NCAA spokesman David Worlock said "the NCAA did not mandate this. The SEC requested a waiver and it was granted."

Neither Worlock nor Pinkerton confirmed a coaches' vote to influence the SEC waiver request. But during the weekly SEC teleconference on Monday, numerous coaches acknowledged both a vote and a lengthy debate over the extension of the coaching box.

Florida coach Billy Donovan said he was "fine either way," but could not recall how he voted on the issue nine months ago.

"There were arguments made on both sides that were very, very valid. It's the only place in the country where coaches are behind the basket," Donovan said. "… I think there was a little bit more of a push inside the league that, 'Listen, this is the way every other arena is in the country, and this is what we need to move to.'"

Pearl said SEC coaches and the league office should not be able to force Vanderbilt to change its own arena setup.

"It's unique to college basketball, and it's something I think the SEC should honor and promote as opposed to having somebody else decide how the thing should be configured," Pearl said. "It's very difficult to establish history and tradition, and Vanderbilt basketball has it. So who am I to change it?"

Stallings criticized the method the SEC took in forcing the change, saying "I am disappointed in how it was handled and how the whole thing came about."LSU coach Johnny Jones said the SEC office made the decision to request a waiver, but coaches were "given an opportunity to voice opinions."

Numerous coaches said they understood Stallings' frustrations in trying to uphold Memorial Gym's unique setup, which is perceived as a home-court advantage for the Commodores who are accustomed to playing there.

Jones said he respected Memorial Gym's "mystique," but he wanted a "more normal and natural" setup to talk to his players from the sideline.

Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall added that "most of the coaches agreed they'd like to have a little more leeway to get up and down the sideline to communicate with their team."

Alabama coach Anthony Grant said "the most logical thing to do was to extend the box."

Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy said he was emphatically in favor of extending the box to make Memorial Gym more like other arenas for opposing coaches.

"It gives a coach the opportunity to coach like we coach the entire year on the sideline," Kennedy said. "Players are used to seeing me on the sideline. It won't affect the Vandy setup at all."

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