Steven Pearl ready to ‘rise to the moment’

AUBURN | Steven Pearl began his Auburn journey 11 years ago as an assistant strength coach.

But his path to becoming the Tigers’ 22nd men’s basketball head coach began many years earlier as the son of legendary coach Bruce Pearl. Two days after Bruce Pearl announced his retirement from coaching, Steven Pearl was introduced as his successor at Auburn.

“We knew the next head basketball coach at Auburn needed is to be someone with extensive SEC coaching experience, someone with a demonstrated history of of winning championships, someone who could lead and keep intact this incredible staff. Someone who understands and appreciates what Auburn stands for,” said Auburn athletics director John Cohen Wednesday morning.

“Steven Pearl checks every box. He was there day one when Auburn introduced Coach Pearl in March of 2014. From the ground up, he helped his father build something solid. Then something spectacular.”

The younger Pearl inherits a program that has won three SEC regular season and two SEC Tournament championship in the last seven years along with advancing to the Final Four twice.

Bruce Pearl retires as Auburn’s most successful and winningest head coach with 244 wins at AU and 706 in a career that began at Southern Indiana in 1992. Steven Pearl was with his dad growing up as a coaches’ kid, playing for his father at Tennessee and then being a part of his staff for the last 11 years at Auburn.

After a year as an assistant strength coach, he became the director of basketball operations for two years, a full-time assistant in 2017 and the associate head coach in 2023. He’s been in charge of the Tigers’ defense and spearheaded transfer portal evaluations and recruiting over the past several years.

“It’s an honor to lead this University and this program into the next chapter of Auburn basketball. I’ve been preparing for this moment my entire life,” said Steven Pearl. “That journey has shaped how I lead, how I listen, and how I build. It’s given me a front row seat to the principals that made this program so successful. In that perspective, I plan to carry them forward with purpose.

“I fully understand the weight of this opportunity. I embrace it with gratitude, humility, and resolve. I know it comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility. It’s a different level of expectation and it’s a gold standard that Bruce Pearl has brought to this fine institution and this fine basketball program. It’s given me a front row seat. And it’s given me the perspective I need to carry forward. I will go to work every single day with the focus and the determination to reward you all for allowing me the opportunity of a lifetime to lead this program. I’m here to rise to the moment.”

Auburn began preseason practice on Monday.