Auburn is looking to keep Bruce Pearl on The Plains.
Pearl and athletic director Allen Greene have been moving forward with "ongoing" contract negotiations, Auburn Undercover's Brandon Marcello reported Tuesday evening. Currently, Pearl is the seventh-highest paid coach in the SEC.
“Bruce is our coach and our responsibility is to support him, his staff and his student-athletes," Greene said. "We want to experience what we experienced last year on a consistent basis. I think in order to do that we have to have consistency in the head coaching position."
As Auburn's fourth-year head coach, Pearl guided his team to the school's first regular season-championship since 1999, its third overall and its second-most wins with 26.
"[Pearl] and I talk all the time about the future of the men’s basketball program and our responsibility is to be able to support them, to make sure that what we experienced this past year, we experience again," Greene said.
With a contract that is set to expire in 2020, Pearl's future at the University has been speculated since associate head coach Chuck Person's arrest on federal bribery and fraud charges. Person, who is a former player at the school, is accused of giving money to Danjel Purifoy and Austin Wiley in order to push them toward NBA agents.
For most of the season, Pearl maintained his refusal to discuss the program until the end of the season. In March, where Pearl's squad reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, both university president Steven Leath and Greene voiced their support of the head coach.
"Again, there are so many things that go on behind the scenes that he knows I’m here to support him and I think that really, really helps with his ability to go out and recruit and help build this program on a national level," Greene said.
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