In a breaking story sending shockwaves through both the sports and political worlds, Bruce Pearl is immediately retiring as the head coach at Auburn, multiple sources have reported.
Steven Pearl, Pearl’s son and the Tigers’ associate head coach, is expected to be the head coach for the upcoming season, sources have told ESPN and others. The younger Pearl played basketball at the University of Tennessee when his dad coached there.
Bruce Pearl, 65, has said before that he wanted to leave coaching at the top of his game. Last season he guided Auburn to its second-ever Final Four appearance. The Tigers earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament after winning the SEC regular-season championship, racking up 32 wins before falling to Florida in the national semifinal.
Pearl has been the head coach at Auburn for 11 seasons, leading the Tigers to six NCAA tournament appearances and both of the program’s Final Four runs. During Pearl’s time at Auburn, the Tigers won at least a share of three SEC regular-season titles and two SEC tournament championships.
Pearl has increasingly been linked to a post-coaching career in politics, something he addressed in early September following months long rumors regarding Pearl as a potential candidate for Tommy Tuberville’s open U.S. Senate seat.
“It’s certainly something that I had considered,” Pearl told reporters. “It’s something I thought a great deal about, but obviously I’m here today and I’m in practice and I’ve got practice tomorrow.” Nevertheless, Pearl has been coy about his political ambitions. https://www.cbssports.com/
Prior to taking over at Auburn, Pearl had been the head coach at Tennessee, Milwaukee and Southern Indiana. He went to the NCAA tournament in all six of his seasons with the Volunteers, including three Sweet 16 appearances and one Elite Eight run. He was fired in 2011 after being charged by the NCAA for unethical conduct after lying to the NCAA during an investigation into recruiting violations.
Pearl was given a three-year show-cause penalty by the NCAA, with Auburn hiring him five months before it ended.
Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville was the head football coach at Auburn before later entering the political arena. Tuberville has opted to run for governor of Alabama rather than seek reelection to the US Senate. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is running for the open Senate seat and has been considered the front runner in that race up to this point. Alabama is a “red state” where are the Republican nominee for both governor and Senate are expected to win in the general election process. The general election for both the governor’s race and the Senate race will be in November 2026.
Steve Gill is the editor and publisher of TriStar Daily.
