CHARLOTTE — His players dismissed from the podium, Bruce Pearl walked up the steps in his gray sweatshirt, sat down and before the media could even ask the embattled Tennessee coach a question, he addressed his newly complicated job situation.

“When you put yourself in the position where you provide false and misleading information to the NCAA and you go through a NCAA investigation, you put yourself in a position where you’re going to be evaluated at the end of the year. And so that’s what our status is,” Pearl said. “The announcement yesterday publicly came as a bit of a surprise, but if that’s where we are, then that’s where we’re at.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton told a Knoxville radio station that “the jury is still out” on whether Pearl would return for his seventh season as the Volunteers’ head coach.

Pearl has been in trouble all season stemming from providing “false and misleading information” to the NCAA when it investigated potential recruiting violations. He had said he didn’t host recruits at a barbeque at his house in 2008 when there was evidence he had.

The SEC suspended him for eight conference games this season and more punishment could await.

Both Pearl and associate head coach Tony Jones said the coaching staff has tried to insulate their players from the controversy. Jones said the coaching staff spoke with his team this morning briefly about the latest twist in his job status.

Jones also said Hamilton texted him to apologize for the timing of the announcement, two days before Tennessee will play Michigan in the Round of 64 of the NCAA tournament (Friday, 12:40 p.m., TruTV).

“I think the coaching staff did a great job of keeping the outside world outside,” Tennessee senior center Brian Williams said. “We keep what’s on the court on the court. So everything, I think everybody that’s in Tennessee orange is worried about a game against Michigan and nothing else.”

While Tennessee tries to focus on its immediate future, the status of its coach became the storyline for the Volunteers on Thursday. Of the 12 questions asked to Pearl in his news conference, 10 were about his job status.

The Boston native said he was not given a timeline for his evaluation with Hamilton and accepted responsibility for the off-court conversations that are now going on.

The only question Pearl deflected was when he declined to say what he has spoken with Hamilton about since Wednesday’s announcement.

“I was the one that broke these rules,” Pearl said. “Not Mike Hamilton, not our Chancellor and not these student athletes.

“So I put myself in this position.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein