Bruce Pearl was hired as the Auburn men’s basketball head coach in 2014 after the team’s fifth straight losing season. Returning to the sport after three years away, Pearl found himself in a program accustomed to mediocrity, and worse, in a culture that had long since left basketball on the back-burner.
Many in this situation would have allowed their career to stall, satisfied with their already high status as an SEC coach. Pearl, on the other hand, had made a career of exceeding expectations.
In 1995, he brought the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles their only national championship, and he later led the Milwaukee Panthers to their first and second NCAA tournament appearances — not to mention his successful tenure at Tennessee.
In hindsight it’s clear that Pearl was destined to be a local legend.
Anyone with the slightest knowledge of Auburn athletics will tell you that Coach Pearl transformed Auburn’s culture surrounding basketball. Yet this is still somehow an understatement.
Before Pearl’s arrival, there really was no culture to mold. Pearl created what we now know as The Jungle from scratch. His passion for basketball and his loyalty to players and the community formed the basis of a new culture — a culture which would one day solidify Auburn’s standing as a basketball school.
By simply observing Auburn’s playing style over the years, one can see that Pearl’s approach to coaching is unique. Contrary to other renowned coaches like North Carolina’s Roy Williams and Duke’s Coach K, whose teams operated with near-algorithmic precision, Pearl leans into his players’ competitive spirit.
Take Auburn’s 2018 Final Four run for example, where Jared Harper played an NBA brand of iso-ball and Bryce Brown threw up transition threes with no hesitation, while opponents stuck to their uninspiring motion offense. And what would our current roster be without Dylan Cardwell gesticulating every which way after a big play?
Such emotion can only be unleashed with a fiery figure like Pearl at the forefront. Moreover, no player is more motivated than a player who can play freely.
Nonetheless, Pearl’s dedication does not stop at his team. It extends to the university and community of Auburn as a whole.
Whether he’s serving pizza to fans camping out in the cold before a big game, speaking to student organizations in his free time or spearheading an unofficial city in The Village, Bruce Pearl is the sort of individual whose actions tell it all.
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