Bruce Pearl, Candace Parker share awkward on-air moment about Parker’s dating history at Tennessee

Both Candace Parker and Bruce Pearl were part of TNT Sports’ big hiring spree this year for the network’s revamped college basketball coverage, and on Monday night, they found themselves in the broadcast booth together for the first time.

While the game was part of the new Players’ Era men’s championship tournament in Las Vegas, it was technically a home game for the Tennessee Volunteers. And as fellow former Vols, Pearl and Parker’s appearance on the broadcast was also a homecoming of sorts.

The two even overlapped on campus in Knoxville, a fact which Pearl highlighted during the second half of Tennessee’s win over Rutgers.

“There were some stories that we could talk about and there are other stories we can’t talk about,” Pearl said. “But Candace was a beautiful, young student-athlete at Tennessee. She was dating one of my guys and she was talking to two or three others at the same time.”

.@coachbrucepearl was airing out @Candace_Parker‘s dating history from their days at Tennessee 😅🤣 pic.twitter.com/uhkRvJWuwB

— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) November 24, 2025

Parker laughed and said, “that is not true.”

But Bruce Pearl was undeterred, revealing that he had to request to her at times not to break up with players on the men’s team so as to keep his team together and in good spirits.

“We had that relationship,” Pearl said. “Candace was mature beyond her years.”

That’s where Parker could agree.

“That’s the thing that I loved about the University of Tennessee is the relationships, and the stuff that will stay from 2004 to 2008,” Parker said.

While Candace Parker was winning championships under head coach Pat Summitt, Pearl coached the men’s team deep into the NCAA tournament during his half-decade stint with the Vols.

It does appear that Parker and Pearl developed a friendly bond all those years ago in Knoxville, but Parker may not have wanted her dating history combed through live on-air.