Bruce Pearl has found a home in Auburn and, even if an offer from Texas comes, don’t expect the Tigers head coach to accept.
With Shaka Smart departing Austin and the Texas Longhorns for the head coaching position with Marquette, some names are already being thrown out there for the vacant job.
One of those names, of course, is Auburn’s Bruce Pearl. ESPN college basketball analyst Seth Greenberg was maybe the first to mention the possibility of him leaving the Plains for the 40 Acres.
“They need someone that’s going to get that Texas fan base excited,” Greenberg said on ESPN’s College GameDay. “I’m going to throw two names at you. How about Bruce Pearl? Talk about a guy that’s gone into a football environment and created frenzy and a winning atmosphere, a winning environment and style of play and energy.
Of course, this is the same Greenberg who did everything but credit the Tigers for their run through the 2019 SEC Tournament, instead saying that the final result — Auburn 84, Tennessee 64, was a mere result of the Volunteers playing “their real SEC championship” the day before against Kentucky.
As I said to that two years ago, I say to Greenberg now: puh-leeze.
In my opinion, the Auburn job is on the same level as the Texas job in men’s basketball. Even when the Longhorns are having a successful season, they struggle to fill their arena. In fact, this has been a problem for so long that the new arena they are building in Austin is much smaller.
This is a university with more than 50,000 students on campus and their reaction to a big basketball game on campus? “Meh.”
Of course the football-first attitude of Texas also describes Auburn but students have made Auburn Arena one of the toughest places to play in college basketball. They feed off the energy that Pearl has brought to the program and, in return, Pearl has adored himself to them.
It’s not like winning is easy at both places, either, yet Pearl has his system in place alongside the players he wants on his side and seems content to be a hero on the Plains compared to just another coach in Austin. Despite the departures of three players and the chance Sharife Cooper might go pro, there is plenty of optimism for next year’s team including the improved play of JT Thor if he returns and the entrance of 5-star recruit Jabari Smith and College of Charleston transfer Zep Jasper.
Auburn was the program that gave Pearl a second chance following his show-cause and dismissal from Tennessee. He has truly bought into the program and has rewarded us with a SEC regular season title, SEC tournament title and a trip to the Final Four.
To say he is currently the most-beloved Auburn coach is an understatement.
Yet, as we know, this is a business and we are sure that Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte and the powerful Longhorn boosters will pony up a ton of money that they can throw at Pearl and other coaches that they deem worthy to run their program.
I just don’t see Pearl wanting to leave what he has built at Auburn. Smart was wise enough to see that he was probably going to get fired after this season in which he led the Longhorns to a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament but was ultimately upset by Abilene Christian in the first round. A No. 3 seed coach get fired? Talk about unrealistic expectations.
Pearl has found his home on the Plains. I’d be so shocked if he left for the Texas job that, if it does occur, I’m willing to ride Bevo for five seconds. That’s how confident I am that Pearl will throw a “horns down” if an offer from Texas comes.
