{"id":163884,"date":"2025-09-23T16:32:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T16:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/163884\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T16:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T16:32:08","slug":"auburn-basketball-coach-bruce-pearl-steps-down-son-steven-taking-over-on-five-year-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/163884\/","title":{"rendered":"Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl steps down; son Steven taking over on five-year deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Auburn men\u2019s basketball coach Bruce Pearl is stepping down<\/a>, the school announced, ending his college coaching career 42 days before Auburn\u2019s first game of the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n

Pearl\u2019s son, Steven, the Tigers\u2019 associate head coach, will take over the program. Auburn announced Monday<\/a> that Steven Pearl has signed a five-year contract.<\/p>\n

Bruce Pearl, 65, leaves college basketball with a 694-270 (.720) overall record, including 232-125 (.650) in the last 11 years at Auburn. The winningest coach in Auburn history, he guided the Tigers to the school\u2019s second Final Four last season, earning the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament after winning the SEC regular-season championship. The Tigers lost to Florida 79-73 in an all-SEC national semifinal.<\/p>\n

In the last decade, Pearl transformed Auburn, long an afterthought in college hoops and mired in nearly a decade of losing seasons before he took over in 2014, into one of the top programs in the country. Pearl took Auburn to two Final Fours and won at least a share of three SEC regular-season titles and two conference tournament championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a part of college basketball for almost 50 years, and the truth is, it\u2019s time,\u201d Pearl said in a video posted on Auburn\u2019s social media accounts. \u201cI told myself that when I got to the point when I could not give it my all or I wasn\u2019t necessarily 100 percent, where I couldn\u2019t be the relentless competitor that you expected of me, that it was going to be time. And as hard as it is to say this, I reached the realization that it was time for me to step aside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dear Auburn Family, I truly love you.@CoachBrucePearl<\/a> x #WarEagle<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/xFJAEetMLv<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Auburn Basketball (@AuburnMBB) September 22, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

There had been rumors for months that Pearl, known for being outspoken on social media platforms about a variety of political topics, might consider a run for public office. However, in his farewell video, Pearl made it clear that he would remain at Auburn, transitioning immediately into an ambassador role within the athletic department as a special assistant to the athletic director.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought and prayed about maybe running for United States Senate, maybe to be the next great senator from the state of Alabama,\u201d he said. \u201cThat would have required me leaving Auburn. Instead, the university has given me an incredible opportunity to stay here and be Auburn\u2019s senator.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Auburn, Pearl was the head coach at Tennessee (2005-11), Milwaukee (2001-05) and Division II Southern Indiana (1992-2001).<\/p>\n

In 2005, Pearl\u2019s Milwaukee Panthers, which had won the Horizon League regular-season and conference tournament titles, stunned fifth-seeded Alabama 83-73 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 12 seed.<\/p>\n

However, they weren\u2019t finished.<\/p>\n

Two days later, Milwaukee took care of fourth-seeded Boston College 83-75, which had opened its season 20-0 and had routed Penn 85-65 in the first round. The Panthers\u2019 dream season came to an end in the Sweet 16, when top-seeded Illinois beat Milwaukee 77-63.<\/p>\n

Pearl took the Vols to the NCAA Tournament in each of his six seasons, reaching three Sweet 16s and one Elite Eight. He was fired in 2011 after the NCAA charged him with unethical conduct for lying during an investigation into recruiting violations. Auburn hired him five months before his three-year show-cause penalty ended.<\/p>\n

Steven Pearl, 38, has been on his father\u2019s staff since he got to Auburn and was promoted to associate head coach in August. He played for Bruce at Tennessee from 2007 to 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a sense, I\u2019ve 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,\u201d Steven Pearl said in a school release. \u201cWe\u2019re not starting over \u2014 we\u2019re building forward, with the same principles that have made Auburn Basketball elite. I\u2019m honored to lead this program, and I\u2019m ready to rise to the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steven is 1-0 as Auburn\u2019s head coach, having filled in for Bruce as acting head coach back in December 2021 when Bruce served a two-game suspension as part of NCAA penalties related to former Auburn associate head coach Chuck Person, who was found to have violated ethical conduct rules.<\/p>\n

Auburn faced a variety of penalties resulting from the findings of that investigation<\/a>, including a self-imposed postseason ban for the 2020-2021 season. According to the NCAA\u2019s release at the time, Pearl \u201cfailed to adequately monitor the associate head coach and did not promote an atmosphere of compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steven acted as head coach in Auburn\u2019s 70-44 win over North Alabama on Dec. 14, 2021 (another Auburn assistant filled in for Bruce during the Tigers\u2019 99-68 win over Nebraska three days prior).<\/p>\n

Pearl\u2019s coaching career included other situations that left him in the NCAA\u2019s crosshairs.<\/p>\n

As an assistant at Iowa, he lost a key recruiting battle to Illinois when Deon Thomas, a top prospect from Chicago, committed to the Illini. After Thomas committed, Pearl called him and recorded the conversation, asking Thomas whether Illinois assistant Jimmy Collins had bribed him. Thomas implied he had, and Pearl turned the conversation over to the NCAA.<\/p>\n

The ensuing NCAA investigation didn\u2019t find anything related to Thomas\u2019 recruitment, but the ripple effects lasted for years. Longtime ESPN analyst Dick Vitale said Pearl had \u201ccommitted professional suicide,\u201d as Pearl could not get a Division I job for a decade despite significant success at Southern Indiana. Collins, who had likely been in line for a major head coaching job of his own, instead settled for taking over Illinois-Chicago. When the two men coached against each other in the Horizon League, they did not participate in a traditional postgame handshake.<\/p>\n

In 2005, Thomas, the player at the center of the scandal, told the Chicago Tribune of Pearl, \u201cIt\u2019s kind of hard to forgive a snake. I don\u2019t want to really use the word, but he\u2019s evil. What else can you say he is?\u201d (In 2019, Thomas told The Athletic he wished Pearl \u201cnothing but the best\u201d and that he was \u201cat peace\u201d with everything that had happened.)<\/a><\/p>\n

(Photo: Jamie Squire \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n