Now that Austin Ainge has left the Maine Red Claws as head coach to return to the Celtics, a big vacancy has been left for the Celtics affiliate a few hours north.
But a familiar name, for good reasons and bad, may be in line to fill that vacancy soon.
Sources tell Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski that the Red Claws have reached out to former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl for the position.
Wojnarowski states that Pearl has "privately expressed a preference for his next move to be in television or as an NBA assistant coach, but hes open to hearing out Maines pitch, a source with knowledge of his thinking said".
Pearl has been a big name in the college basketball world, as he led the Vols to six straight NCAA tournaments.
He was dismissed as head coach of Tennessee on March 21, 2011 due to numerous violations, the newest of which was a non-NCAA related incident. ESPN.com's Andy Katz and Chris Low reported it "was a violation of the Tennessee athletic department substance abuse policy by UT senior forward Brian Williams".
Pearl was also under hot water for lying to investigators when asked is he held a cookout at his home that high school juniors attended, ESPN.com reported. He was charged with unethical conduct by the NCAA.
Boston Celtics
Pearl and Maine president and general manager Jon Jennings will talk about the job in the future, Wojnarowski reports.