Bruce Pearl suddenly retired just over three weeks ago, going into what would have been his 12th season as the head coach at Auburn. However, he won’t be leaving college basketball altogether, especially following the latest reporting on his future work this morning.
On Thursday morning, Andrew Marchand at The Athletic reported that Pearl will be appearing on coverage of the sport this season over at TNT Sports. He will be part of their studio coverage, featuring Adam Lefkoe, Jalen Rose, Jamal Mashburn, and Chris Webber, for the network’s expanded work in college basketball in the regular season. TNT, as well as CBS now separately, have since announced Pearl as part of their respective coverages of college ‘hoops.
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“I’ve long admired and deeply respected the way TNT Sports delivers the best studio shows in the industry, along with the way they treat everyone as family, and I could not be more excited to join the amazing team they’ve assembled to cover college basketball,” said Pearl in a release by Warner Brothers. “The product has never been in better shape on the court and I’m going to bring the same passion I displayed as a coach to broadcasting. I can’t wait for the start of the season.”
“CBS Sports is adding to its deep roster of announcers with the additions of former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl and former Purdue player Robbie Hummel. Pearl and Hummel will both call regular-season games and contribute to studio coverage for the network,” CBS wrote as well this morning. “Additionally, both Pearl and Hummel will be part of CBS Sports and TNT Sports’ joint coverage of the NCAA Tournament. Pearl will join as a studio analyst, while Hummel will return as a game analyst during the NCAA Tournament.
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This is another on-air job for Pearl in his career. In between his stints at Tennessee and Auburn in the SEC, Pearl spent two seasons as an analyst at ESPN.
Pearl officially announced his retirement from coaching back on September 22nd. It had been rumored for a time, namely due to some of his off-court work as far as politics, but he had instead chosen to step down to be a form of ambassador for the Tigers down on The Plains, with his son, Steven Pearl, taking over as head coach in his place starting in ’25-’26.
With that, Pearl ended a total of 21 seasons as a head coach, at Milwaukee, Tennessee, and Auburn, with a career record of 477-224 (.680). That includes 10 conference titles won combined across the Horizon League and Southeastern Conference, as well as 14 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
Pearl had his most success with the Tigers, though, with a record of 246-125 (.663), being their all-time winningest coach in program history, with five conference titles and five appearances in March Madness. Two of those resulted in the school’s only two berths in the Final Four in 2019 and this past season in 2025.
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No. 20 Auburn officially began its new tenure under Steven Pearl last night in an exhibition against Oklahoma State in Birmingham. The Tigers fell 97-95 in overtime to the Cowboys at Boutwell Auditorium. They are set to play in another preseason matchup against Memphis in two weeks in Atlanta.
It was a wonder what would be next for Pearl as he began his post-coaching career, namely with politics seemingly off the table for the time being. It now looks as though it’ll be a return to media.
