The culture surrounding Auburn basketball has changed drastically over the last ten seasons.
Long gone are the days of cheap tickets and crushing losses. Nowadays, it is easier to find tickets to watch Auburn play on the road. The reason for that, in part, is due to the hard work of head coach [autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag].
Since taking over the program in 2014, Pearl has taken Auburn to four NCAA Tournaments, which is the most since head coach Sonny Smith led the Tigers to five from 1983-87. Pearl has also won 187 games in that span, and has led Auburn to three SEC championships and a spot in the Final Four.
Sure, Auburn fans would say that he is the best coach in the country. What do other outlets have to say about Pearl? One considers him to be a top-10 coach nationally.
College Basketball Report shared their top 40 head coaches in college hoops list on Sunday and ranked Pearl No. 9 on the list. Pearl is one spot ahead of UCLA’s Mick Cronin, and is just below fellow SEC coaches John Calipari of Kentucky and Arkansas‘ Eric Musselman.
It is easy to see why Pearl would be considered one of the best coaches in the nation. He has a career winning percentage of 66%, and has led three teams to a total of 10 NCAA Tournaments. During his time at Tennessee, he led the Volunteers to three SEC regular season championships and 145 wins from 2005-11. He found similar success at Milwaukee by posting an 86-36 record with three Horizon League titles, which led to three NCAA Tournament appearances.
His track record of sending Auburn players to the NBA should not go unnoticed. A total of eight players from Auburn have made it to the NBA since 2019. Before that, only six players since 2000 from Auburn made it to the NBA.
The glory days of Auburn basketball are in the present. As long as Pearl remains in charge of the program, expect the Tigers to continue their run of relevancy.
Thoughts on this top 40 college basketball coaches list?
(Via cbkcov on instagram) pic.twitter.com/zlXtSPPQo9
— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) July 9, 2023
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