What we've learned in Steven Pearl's first 48 hours as head coach
Why did Bruce Pearl step down now? How have the players responded? Here's what we've seen and heard since Monday.
AUBURN — Since Bruce Pearl stepped down and Steven Pearl stepped up as the new head coach on Monday afternoon, one message from Auburn basketball has been sent repeatedly, clearly and loudly.
It’s going to be business as usual for this championship-caliber program.
From the outside looking in, that might seem idealistic and maybe a little too naïve. After all, as Auburn athletic director John Cohen said early Wednesday morning, the elder Pearl is a Hall of Fame head coach in the sport of basketball.
“I look forward to 2030, when we fully expect Coach Pearl to be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame,” Cohen said. “Because if 694 wins, a Division II national championship, five SEC titles and two Final Four appearances, the only men’s basketball coach or football coach in SEC history to lead two programs to a No. 1 ranking… if those credentials are not deserving of the Hall of Fame, then I don’t know what is.”
But if there’s anything that Bruce showed over the last several seasons — ones in which Auburn has won more SEC titles and made it to yet another Final Four — it’s that the success of the program has more to do with the staff than the individual.
So, when Cohen and Auburn leadership had to start thinking about a succession plan for Bruce multiple years before his final decision this past weekend, they kept coming back to the same conclusion: Whenever the head man steps down, that should be the only change.
“I believe our basketball staff has earned this,” Cohen said. “And, of course, in BP’s honor, we need a strong head coach. This opportunity has been earned.”
During his introductory press conference Wednesday morning, the younger Pearl named every member on staff — from the assistant coaches to the equipment manager.
Steven later was asked why he thought he was ready to take over as the head coach. All he had to do was point to his left, where most of Auburn’s staff and players were seated.
“That’s why,” Steven said. “You’re the best staff in college basketball, that’s why. Like I said, this has nothing to do with me. John hired this staff. Yes, I’m the head basketball coach and I’m going to do everything I can to lead this program in the right direction and we’re going to continue to build on the success that we’ve had.
“But none of this would be possible had it not been for the men that are standing over there against that wall. None of it.”
When Auburn officially opened practice Monday afternoon, just hours after news broke that Bruce was stepping down, Steven took the floor at Neville Arena as the head coach for the first time.
It wasn’t the first time he had ran a practice. That had happened plenty of times over the last several years, whenever his father had to be away. It wasn’t the first time he had been the face of the program, either.
Steven spent the summer as the team’s representative at alumni club meetings and even had the official press release quote whenever Auburn officially switched to Nike.
Naturally, there was a different feeling in the air Monday afternoon. A gigantic “Thank You, Coach” graphic for Bruce was on the main Neville Arena scoreboard hanging over center court and on the towering new one in the entrance lobby at the scholarship entrance, where players and coaches enter.
But practice itself felt like any other.
That’s the plan moving forward for Auburn: Continue the success that Bruce brought and maintained on the Plains under Steven, who has been by his side every step of the way. Keep the rest of the program intact, because culture and continuity have meant as much to that success as the talent level of the players themselves.
Feelings have to be managed. Conversations will continue. Sudden change always creates those, even if the setup behind it is as plug-and-play as possible.
We’ve spent a good portion of Steven Pearl’s first 48 hours as Auburn basketball’s new head coach watching and listening to what has been going on with the program inside and outside of Neville Arena. That continued Wednesday morning with his introductory press conference, which shed even more light on the change.
Here’s what we’ve heard so far in the start of a new era on the Plains: