AUBURN — A new era for Auburn basketball began Monday, Sept. 22, as the school announced coach Bruce Pearl is retiring ahead of the 2025-26 season.
It also announced that Steven Pearl will be taking over for his father, with the younger Pearl signing a five-year deal to become the program’s 22nd head coach.
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Listed as the program’s associate head coach and defensive coordinator last season, the younger Pearl has big shoes to fill, taking over for Auburn’s all-time winningest men’s basketball coach fresh off its second-ever trip to the Final Four.
As Auburn sees a changing of the guard, here are five things to know about its reported next head coach.
Yes, Steven Pearl is related to former Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl
Steven Pearl, 38, is one of Bruce Pearl’s four children, born Sept. 14, 1987, in Iowa City, Iowa. At the time, Bruce Pearl was in the second year of what would be his final assistant coaching job, on Tom Davis’ Iowa staff.
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Bruce Pearl left that job in 1992 for his first head coaching gig, at then-Division II Southern Indiana, but he spent more than a decade alongside Davis, first serving as his student manager at Boston College, where Davis coached from 1977 to 1982.
Steven Pearl wore many hats for Auburn basketball as assistant coach
Steven Pearl was promoted to associate head coach in September 2023, and eventually assumed the position of defensive coordinator on his father’s staff. His role fittingly had him involved in many aspects of the program.
According to his staff bio, Steven Pearl’s duties included opponent scouting, defensive strategies and adjustments and in-game play calling. He’s also credited with a significant role in developing Auburn’s big men and recruiting, the latter of which revolved around the transfer portal the past three years.
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That included securing transfer commitments from notable Tigers like Johni Broome, Walker Kessler and Miles Kelly, among others.
“Steven has been an integral part of the success that we’ve had at Auburn from the beginning,” Bruce Pearl said in a release when Steven Pearl was promoted. “He has been able to recruit and coach at a very high level. His ability to communicate and teach our system to our players is second to none. He is truly one of the best assistant coaches in the country.”
Steven Pearl’s coaching career only includes Auburn basketball
Steven Pearl’s first non-player role in college basketball was as Auburn’s assistant strength and conditioning coach in 2014.
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Pearl became the Tigers’ director of basketball operations in 2015, overseeing team travel while helping plan practices, working with the team’s academics and all of Auburn basketball’s camps. He was promoted to an on-court assistant role in 2017.
Steven Pearl isn’t (technically) a first-time Auburn basketball head coach
When Pearl and the Tigers take the court at Neville Arena on Monday, Nov. 3, it won’t be the former’s first time serving as his team’s head coach.
Steven Pearl was named acting head coach for one game in the 2021-22 season, against North Alabama as Bruce Pearl was serving a two-game suspension levied by the NCAA.
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The contest was Steven Pearl’s first career coaching victory, as Auburn won 70-44.
Wes Flanigan coached the other game Bruce Pearl missed due to the NCAA suspension.
Unlike his father, Steven Pearl played college basketball
While Bruce Pearl famously did not play college basketball, his son did. During Bruce Pearl’s six seasons at Tennessee, Steven Pearl was a four-year letterwinner for the program, playing in 101 games between 2007 and 2011.
In that time, Tennessee won back-to-back SEC East championships in 2008 and 2009, with the former winning the SEC outright. He also appeared in the NCAA Tournament each year he was part of the program.
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Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter. To support Adam’s work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Steven Pearl: 5 things to know about new Auburn basketball coach
