With No. 2 Auburn’s 87-82 win at Texas on Tuesday evening, head coach Bruce Pearl passed Joel Eaves in career wins at Auburn with 214 to stand alone as the winningest head coach in program history.
Pearl currently is ranked eleventh in total wins amongst active D-I head coaches with 676.
“Honestly, nobody enjoys winning more than me. Nobody hates losing more than me,” Pearl said following the Missouri win last Saturday. “I will celebrate whatever we accomplish this year this summer. I'll celebrate with my friends, my family, the Auburn Family, on the boat at Lake Martin out there on a golf course. Nobody will enjoy it more. But you know me, you have to know I'm on to Texas and on to the next one.”
In his 11 seasons at Auburn, Pearl has led the Tigers to their first ever final four appearance in 2019, has made the NCAA Tournament five times and got Auburn to its first ever No. 1 ranking in the AP poll during the 2021-22 season – likely achieving the same feat next Monday.
The three-time SEC Coach of the Year’s has won two SEC regular season championships with the Tigers during the 2017-18 and 2021-22 seasons and won two SEC tournament championships during the 2018-19 and 2023-24 seasons.
“Just means the world to have the opportunity to be a part of history, saying that I helped coach, whether it's a small footnote in the history of books,” Dylan Cardwell said on Monday afternoon.
Under Pearl, Auburn has turned in 20-win seasons in six of the last seven years and is tied as the winningest program in the SEC in that span. The Tigers also post the best non-conference record, 93-15, in the SEC over the last nine seasons.
Pearl ranks in the top-five of the SEC in total career wins trailing just Adolph Rupp (876), Billy Donovan (467), Dale Brown (448) and John Calipari (410).
No. 2 Auburn and Pearl, after collecting their seventh quad-one win at Texas, will travel to South Carolina to take on the Gamecocks this Saturday, Jan. 11 at Noon CST on the SEC Network.
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Patrick is a junior from Auburn, Alabama, double majoring in journalism and marketing. He started with The Plainsman in the fall of 2022.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @patrickabingham
