Bruce Pearl became the head basketball coach last April and has already established himself as one of the most involved coaches on campus.
In an attempt to stir interest in Auburn's basketball program, Pearl has often been seen throughout campus participating in different events.
He visits students in the hospital, goes to classrooms and takes part in local charity events.
A video of him crashing a marketing class to give a speech promoting The Pearl Jam with the pep band, cheerleaders and a basketball team member went viral last week.
A Google search of Pearl's name brings up dozens of articles from recent weeks mentioning his involvement in classrooms.
Similar searches of the names of Karen Hoppa, Auburn's soccer coach, and Sunny Golloway, Auburn's baseball coach, showed their most recent articles dated from last year.
A search of Terri Williams-Flournoy, Auburn's women's basketball coach, revealed her most recent articles to be from two years ago.
Pearl's involvement has students talking on and offline
His efforts might have greatly improved student participation and morale in the upcoming basketball games.
We'll see how much his efforts have paid off Nov. 7, when the men's basketball season officially starts.
Other athletic coaches should take notice
of his involvement strategy.
Attendance, especially in women's sports, is typically poor. It can be hard to draw a crowd during the fall season at a university focused on football.
We believe promoting the games in ways similar to Pearl will increase student attendance.
The soccer team also has a good promotion strategy in the clothing they wear on their game days with shirts that say "Soccer Game at 7 p.m. Tonight."
However, promoting games isn't the only reason coaches should become more involved on campus.
Getting to know students outside of athletics also shows students that coaches care for students and organizations outside of their department.
The athletics department can seem to be a separate entity from the University by students who aren't directly involved with athletics.
This separation leads to disinterest and a lack of support for the teams that don't receive the overwhelming attention football gets.
Creating a connection by talking and visiting with students, as well as showing interest outside of a coach's own team, can spark interest and support in the student community.
We'd like to see more coaches be involved, such as Golloway, Williams-Flournoy, Hoppa, swimming coach Brett Hawke, diving coach Jeff Shaffer and softball coach Clint Myers.
They could get involved around campus by getting to know students outside of the athletics department.
Coaches care about their teams and they care about the outcome of their season scores. But they should be able to show Auburn students they care about their fan base too.
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