Bruce Pearl peels back curtain on recruiting conversations in NIL era

On3 imageby:Steve Samra10/22/22

SamraSource

As the college basketball season approaches, Bruce Pearl and Auburn are looking to out-do their fantastic 2021-22 season.

The Tigers were the No. 1 team in the country and a force to be reckoned with throughout the season, even if the NCAA Tournament didn’t go the way they wanted it to go. Speaking with the media earlier this week, Pearl spoke about recruiting conversations during this NIL era, and how the Auburn coach keeps the Tigers moving forward season after season.

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“Well, I mean, we’ve always focused on, number one, the Auburn family and Auburn culture and our university — quality of our university, the fact that our student-athletes are graduating and coming out and being successful,” stated Pearl. “People love Auburn that go there. They just do.

“Our kids, we don’t have a lot of guys that want to transfer because they like Auburn, not just because they like playing for me, it’s a great, great place. So we still recruit to that culture.”

Additionally, Pearl believes there’s a myriad of different places an athlete can go and just play basketball, but if they want the whole shebang, the Tigers are the place to be.

“There’s a lot of places they can get the basketball, but if they want the whole, the full monty at this about developing themselves as a student-athlete, that’s great. We talk about winning championships. We’ve won three in the last five years in the SEC. We talk about advancing in the tournament, and we talk about sending guys to the pros. We’ve had, I think, five or six guys in the last five or six years that have been drafted and are having great success. So when you put that all together, that’s kind of what we’re selling,” added Pearl. “Obviously there’s going to be questions about the support. Every game is sold out. Try to buy a single game ticket to an Auburn basketball game. Go on StubHub. Compare that to buying a single game ticket to another facility in the country. I’m not so sure that our single — you can’t get in. You can’t get a ticket. So the environment is great.

“Obviously we’ll get questions about the NIL, and we have to be competitive in that arena to be able to maintain — all my rosters have been pre-NIL rosters, and this will be a look at the first post-NIL roster. Of course, as we continue to move forward, we’ve got to continue to do a good job in that area.”

As you can see, Bruce Pearl believes Auburn is in a magnificent spot to continue their recent success. Time will tell if he’s right, but there’s no reason to bet against the Tigers if the past is any indication.