Since Iowa coach Todd Lickliter ended his relatively short experiment in Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa fans have had a singular hoops dream: Bruce Pearl.

Pearl was an assistant at Iowa from 1986 to 1992, where he was famously embroiled in a recruiting scandal over Illinois commit Deon Thomas. (Pearl recorded a conversation with Thomas wherein Thomas revealed that he had been given cash and an SUV by an Illinois assistant. Pearl turned the tapes over to the NCAA, which in college basketball coaching circles was roughly the equivalent of breaking Omerta. Also, a word of advice: Don't bring this up to Illinois fans. That conversation gets very ugly very quickly.) After the scandal, Pearl was cast out to Southern Indiana, and then Milwaukee, before finally landing at Tennessee and turning the Volunteers into an elite national program.

All of which means Pearl has a pretty good thing going at Tennessee, and his former days at Iowa seem unlikely to tear him away. But Pearl does have a solution to Iowa fans' longing:

"I'm here at Tennessee and going to be at Tennessee and I'm grateful to be at Tennessee," Pearl said. He added that he has not had any contact with Iowa athletics director Gary Barta since the firing of Todd Lickliter. [...]

"I have a lot of Iowa guys on my staff," Pearl said. "If they don't hire a head coach and hire an assistant, Steve Forbes is a guy I hope they look at."

Hey, thanks boss! Forbes might not have been Iowa's top candidate before Pearl's endorsement, but if you can't get Bruce Pearl, why not get the next best thing?