Bruce Pearl, winningest men’s basketball coach in Auburn history, announces retirement

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AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Auburn coach Bruce Pearl announced his retirement Monday less than six months after finishing the Tigers’ best season in program history with another trip to the Final Four.

Pearl’s 38-year-old son Steven Pearl, who has been on his father’s coaching staff for all 11 seasons at Auburn, will take over as coach.

“I just feel when I can’t give 100% it’s time to pass the torch,” Bruce Pearl said in a 14-minute video posted on social media.

Pearl, 65, is the school’s winningest men’s coach and took the Tigers to their only two Final Four appearances. He will move into an ambassador role as an assistant to Auburn’s athletic director, and isn’t going into politics after rumors had circulated about a potential senate run.

“Many of you know that I thought and prayed about maybe running for United States Senate, maybe to be the next great senator from the state of Alabama,” said Pearl, who was a college head coach for over 30 seasons with four schools. “That would have required leaving Auburn, and instead the university has given me the opportunity to stay here and be Auburn’s senator. I need to focus now on being a great husband, being a great father, being the best grandfather I possibly can be.”

Pearl advanced the Tigers to their first Final Four in 2019, defeating Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky in successive games. They lost to eventual-champion Virginia by one point. Last season, led by All-American Johni Broome, the Tigers earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and had a school-record 32 wins before losing to Southeastern Conference rival Florida in the national semifinal.

Pearl and Rick Pitino, who ushered in a quick turnaround at St. John’s, last season shared The Associated Press men’s college basketball coach of the year award. It was the first tie in the 58-year history of the award.

Pearl had a 246-125 record at Auburn, but the school recognizes only 232 of those wins after vacating games from the 2016-17 season because of NCAA infractions involving former assistant coach Chuck Person. Pearl received a two-game suspension for failure to monitor his assistant and adequately promote compliance.

Tennessee had fired Pearl in 2011 after the NCAA charged him with unethical conduct and then additional violations surfaced. He was 145-71 and made the NCAA Tournament all six seasons with the Volunteers from 2005-11, getting to the Sweet 16 three times, and advancing to their first regional final in 2010.

Auburn hired Pearl in March 2014, when he was in the final months of his show-cause penalty, to take over a program that hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2003. The Tigers went six times, all in the past seven seasons.

Before his two SEC stops, Pearl won an NCAA Division II national championship in 1995 with Southern Indiana while going 231-46 in his first head coaching job from 1992-01. He then was 86-38 in four seasons at Milwaukee, going to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2005 before getting hired by Tennessee.

Steven Pearl played 101 games for his father at Tennessee from 2007-11. He was a medical sales representative for three years before joining the Auburn staff in 2014, and was promoted to associate head coach before the 2023-24 season.

“There is nobody more qualified or in a position to maintain our culture of faith, family and doing it the Auburn way than Steven,” Bruce Pearl said. “He’s actually tougher than I am, and just as competitive. 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.”

When Bruce Pearl served his two-game suspension early in the 2021-22 season, Steven Pearl was the acting head coach in a pair of lopsided wins.

Auburn AD John Cohen said when he took the job three years ago, Bruce Pearl made it clear he was nearing the end of his career. Cohen said there was an internal national search to prepare for when that happened.

“Throughout our detailed process, it became obvious to me and our staff that Steven Pearl was clearly the best fit for Auburn,” Cohen said. “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.”