1-on-1 with Auburn head coach Steven Pearl (Part 2)

We finish our sit-down with SP by talking a new factor in scheduling, the two new centers and whether he'll remain a suit + stool guy.

(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)

AUBURN — It feels like there’s constantly something new in college basketball.

Steven Pearl is fully aware of that. Not only is he entering his first full offseason after taking over for his father last fall, he’s doing so in a landscape where rules are tweaked almost every week.

Just since Auburn’s NIT title win over Tulsa, the NCAA Tournament has expanded, and the 5-in-5 eligibility rule has gotten to the doorstep of finalization. That combo is coming on top of widespread changes that have affected international recruiting, non-conference scheduling, player compensation and foreign tours.

In the second part of our sit-down interview with Pearl, The Auburn Observer was able to get the second-year head coach’s thoughts on all of these subjects and more.

And, in case you missed it, you can check out Part 1 of this interview at the link below.

1-on-1 with Auburn head coach Steven Pearl (Part 1)

Observer subscribers have access to the entire interview, across both sections. If you would like to join to read it all, click the button below to get started with a subscription.

In Part 2 of this interview, Pearl shares his thoughts on non-conference scheduling, NCAA Tournament expansion, what stood out about new centers Narcisse Ngoy and Bukky Oboye in scouting, the value of the Tigers’ upcoming tour of Greece and — most importantly — if the suit and the stool will return after the finish to Year 1.

(Note: I said I split this interview into two halves, but it’s not an even break. Part 2 is not nearly as long as Part 1, which had some longer combo questions that I had to include for a smoother read. Just didn’t want y’all to feel shortchanged here.)

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With Auburn officially announcing the game against Wisconsin in Nashville this week, I wanted to ask about the schedule.

You’ve talked in the past about how difficult non-conference play was last season with a young team. So what’s your stance on scheduling for this season and beyond?

Obviously, you want to first schedule so you can help your NCAA Tournament resume. Two, you want to get yourselves ready for SEC play. But there’s a new third component now with NIL.

We’re gonna make money in Vegas. We’re gonna make money in Huntsville. (JF: The rumored opponent for that game is MTSU.) We’re gonna make money in Nashville. We’re gonna make money when we go to Birmingham to play an exhibition game.

The reason why we’re scheduling these games is because we have to find a way to supplement money for our NIL. That’s just part of it. That’s part of trying to be able to build a budget that you can compete with. That’s on us to throw in, instead of just continuing to ask for individual donations.

You’ve got to go out there and play these neutral-site games — kinda like football is doing in Atlanta, but on a much smaller scale, to try to get a couple hundred thousand dollars a year, outside of the Vegas tournament.

So, there are three things you’re looking into: It’s strength of schedule, so you can help your metrics at the end of the year. It’s getting ready for conference play. And it’s continuing to just build up your NIL budget.

Since it’s been in the news, too, I wanted to get your thoughts on the NCAA Tournament expanding to include more teams.

Yeah, I mean, I don’t love it. I think it was really good the way they had it.