Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl retired after 21 seasons in Division I and will be replaced by his son Steven Pearl.
The Tigers made the move official on Monday afternoon.
Bruce Pearl, 65, guided the Tigers to a 32-6 record last season and an appearance in the Final Four where they lost to eventual champion Florida 79-73 in the national semifinals. The SEC’s regular-season champion entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed.
“I’m incredibly grateful to President Dr. Roberts, Athletics Director John Cohen, and the entire Auburn leadership team for entrusting me with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Steven Pearl, 38, said in a school-issued statement. “In a sense, I’ve spent my lifetime preparing for this moment, learning from one of the best in BP, and building a foundation rooted in character, hard work, and team-first values. We’re not starting over — we’re building forward, with the same principles that have made Auburn Basketball elite. I’m honored to lead this program, and I’m ready to rise to the moment.”
While Bruce Pearl said his son passed on several prominent coaching jobs to remain with Auburn, Cohen signaled the younger Pearl fit the program’s priority of keeping the current coaching staff intact.
“Throughout our detailed process, it became obvious to me and our staff that Steven Pearl was clearly the best fit for Auburn. His expertise in coaching defense, his skills as an evaluator, recruiter, teacher and motivator, and his relationships with our student-athletes and staff were paramount,” Cohen said in a statement. “As the associate head coach on what I consider to be one of the elite coaching staffs in college basketball, Steven has played a prominent role in Auburn’s unprecedented success.”
Bruce Pearl has reached the NCAA Tournament 14 times as a head coach and has reached the Final Four on two occasions. He has a career record of 477-244 as a Division I head coach at Milwaukee (2001-05), Tennessee (2005-11) and Auburn (2014-25). He guided Milwaukee into the NCAA Tournament twice and took Tennessee to the NCAA Tournament in all six seasons with the program. Auburn has made the tournament six times in the past eight seasons, advancing to the Final Four in 2019.
“There is nobody more qualified or in a position to maintain our culture of faith, family and doing it the Auburn way than Steven. He’s actually tougher than I am, and just as competitive,” Bruce Pearl said. “Out of loyalty to Auburn and me, Steven passed on several previous chances to pursue head coaching opportunities, choosing instead to invest in our men’s basketball program and help it reach unprecedented heights. … I am so pleased that the DNA of this program won’t be changing and could not be prouder for Steven, Brittany and Lainey.”
Bruce Pearl is Auburn’s all-time leader in wins as a head coach with 246.
A Boston College alum, Bruce Pearl also coached at Division II Southern Indiana, leading the program to the national championship in 1995. He has assistant coaching experience at Stanford (1982-86) and Iowa (1986-92).
Steven Pearl played for his father at Tennessee and has been an assistant coach at Auburn since 2017. He was named associate head coach in 2023.
–Field Level Media
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