Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl celebrates after his game in Nashville against Texas A&M in this March 12, 2015, file photo.Former Tennessee and current Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl hopes the ongoing discussion regarding the "Stars and Bars" can result in a greater appreciation for the "Stars and Stripes."
"I think it's good in this country that we have this debate, and I would like to take this opportunity to honor our flag and to fly our flag," Pearl said this week on a teleconference. "So much is being made of the Confederate flag right now, but with July Fourth coming up, let's raise our flag. Let's honor our flag and what it stands for.
"I understand the freedoms that our country enjoys, and it bothers me when people desecrate our flag and don't honor it. It bothers me tremendously."
Pearl is among several Southeastern Conference basketball coaches who has weighed in on whether the Confederate flag should be displayed in public places. South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier said in 2007 that the Confederate flag should come down from the capitol grounds in Columbia, but the issue heightened significantly last month when nine people were shot to death at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.
Pictures later were revealed of the alleged gunman, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, draped in the Confederate flag.
New SEC commissioner Greg Sankey last week issued a statement supporting the removal of the Confederate flag from public displays. Pearl and South Carolina basketball coach Frank Martin believe the flag does have some positive aspects and should be displayed in private.
"It's part of our history, and it's part of our fabric," Martin said. "It represents a lot of good to a lot of people, and it represents what people were willing to die for. But there is also another side to the equation, and it's offensive to numerous other folks. We have to embrace both sides of it.
"We can't just look at one side and say, 'The heck with the other group.' That's why I think there is a place for that flag in people's private homes and in museums that represent the Confederate states, but not in public places."
Governors in both Alabama and South Carolina have stated recently that Confederate flags should be removed from their state capitol buildings.
While Pearl is wanting the discussion to heighten respect for the United States flag, Martin is appreciative of the growing diversity in this country. Martin, who grew up in Miami and came to South Carolina from Kansas State, is the son of Cuban immigrants.
"This is an unbelievable country where a guy like me can become a head basketball coach at a major university," Martin said. "We can have an African-American president, and we have an African-American mayor (Steve Benjamin) in the city of Columbia. We have a minority female (Nikki Haley is Indian American) as the governor of our state.
"It's the greatest country in the world. Where else has such diversity in leadership positions?"
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.