April 11, 2001

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will introduce Bruce Pearl as its new head men's basketball coach at a 4:30 p.m. press conference today.

Pearl comes to UWM from the University of Southern Indiana, a Division II school in Evansville, Ind. He replaces Bo Ryan, who resigned March 29 to take a similar post at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Pearl, 41, has been the head coach at Southern Indiana for the past nine seasons. During Pearl's tenure, USI won the NCAA Division II National Championship in 1995 and finished second in the nation in 1994.

This season, USI finished 26-4 and won the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship. His team was also ranked number one in the country for the sixth time in seven seasons, and USI advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the ninth straight time.

He is 231-46 in his nine seasons, and his 83.6 percent winning percentage makes him the winningest active coach in college basketball. Pearl also reached the 200-victory plateau sooner than any basketball coach in history, shattering the original NCAA record held by Everett Case of North Carolina State when it took him just 240 games to claim 200 wins.