If Bruce Pearl ever decides to go shirtless to a Tennessee women's game again and paint a "U" on his chest, perhaps he has found his sidekick "T."

Tyler Summitt, the son of Tennessee women's coach Pat Summitt, will be a walk-on guard on Pearl's team beginning next season, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Tyler, a sophomore-to-be at the school, spent this year helping out his mother as a male practice player for the women's team and hopes to become a coach in the future.

From the report:

The 6-foot guard's interest in coaching led to his decision to walk-on with the Vols despite the likelihood he will see very little playing time.

Pat Summitt said it was all Tyler's idea and decision.

"I wasn't going to say 'No,' because it's what he wants to do, and he's looking at coaching one day, so we set up a meeting with Coach Pearl, and Tyler did all of the talking,'' Pat Summitt said. "I did tell Bruce not to feel any obligation to take him or play him or give him any breaks.

"And I've told Tyler it is going to be a real challenge. I told him they are going to boo him some at home, and if he travels, they'll boo him on the road. He's going to need some thick skin. If nothing else, he'll grow from this.''

Being the son of the NCAA's winningest basketball coach certainly has its perks and will make for a nice storyline, but mom appears to understand Tyler isn't just any other college basketball player even if he might want to be.

After all, rare is the walk-on whose birth is chronicled as part of the school's folklore, as Tyler's is in his mom's bio.

With her water broken, she still completed the recruiting visit in Macungie, Pa., and then flew home to Knoxville, urging the pilots not to stop so her son would be born in Tennessee.