Pearl pushes for standing students at UT basketball games

Pearl wants to create a zone where the students will stand throughout the game, emulating the atmosphere he experienced at his former coaching job at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, The Knoxville News Sentinel reported.

“(Pearl) thinks that will energize the crowd,” UT men’s athletic director Mike Hamilton said. “We want to help the basketball coach, and I think the students want to help the basketball coach.”

The pep band will keep its seats, but the rest of the pullout section behind the west basket will be standing only.

Hamilton also said seats for 50 to 60 students will be added to the floor close to the UT bench. UT is also studying ways to add seating in the exit areas at the four corners of the court.

“The preliminary plan … was to add four to five rows in those door areas, about 60 to 70 seats in each corner,” Hamilton said. “We’ve got to see about the viability of that. We still have to have an 8-foot clearance for fans to walk out and it has to be approved by the fire marshal.”

The Lady Vols will stay with their usual seating configuration. The student section at women’s basketball games is smaller and placed in front of general-admission seating.

“It’s something where we’re going to watch the men and evaluate,” said Jim Delaney, the Lady Vols director of marketing and promotions. “If it’s a success, we want to keep up with the Joneses. We want to do what’s best for women’s athletics.”