Auburn Basketball’s HC Bruce Pearl Retiring Ahead of Upcoming Season

On Monday, ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Jeff Borzello reported that Auburn’s longtime head basketball coach Bruce Pearl will retire before the 2025-2026 season starts.

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The Tigers are expected to hire Pearl’s son, Steven Pearl, who was the Tigers' Associate Head coach last season, as the next head coach for Auburn’s basketball team, according to Thamel.

Pearl and the Tigers are coming off a final four appearance in 2024, which saw the Tigers fall to Florida, who went on to win the national championship. Pearl also brought home the 2025 AP Co-Coach of the Year award with Rick Pitino, and he also won the 2025 SEC Coach of the Year award, an award that he has won three times in his career (2006, 2008, and 2025).

The 65-year-old recorded a 246-125 record over his 11 seasons on the plains, where he led the Tigers to at least a share of three SEC regular-season titles, two SEC tournament championships, and led the team to two of their only appearances in the final four in school history in 2019 and 2024.

Before getting the head coaching job at Auburn, Pearl was the head coach for Tennessee, Milwaukee, and Southern Indiana. He went to the NCAA Tournament in all six seasons with the Volunteers, including threeSweett 16 appearances and one Elite Eight run. In 2011, he was fired from Tennessee after being charged by the NCAA for Unethical conduct after lying to the NCAA during an investigation into recruiting violations.

The legendary basketball coach has voiced his intentions to start his political career, addressing the rumors that his name has been linked as a potential candidate to fill Tommy Tubberville’s open U.S. Senate seat.

“It’s certainly something that I had considered.” Pearl said, “It’s something I thought a great deal about, but obviously I’m here today and I’m in practice and I’ve got practice tomorrow.”

Auburn's 30-day transfer portal windows will open tomorrow, and the season will tip off in 42 days.

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