The question everyone will ask comes here: Will AU have the nerve to hire former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl?
Currently an ESPN broadcaster and businessman, Pearl has been out of coaching since the 2010-11 season following an NCAA investigation of his Tennessee program that was exacerbated when he admittedly provided false information during an interview. He received a three-year show-cause penalty that expires in August.
Pearl was a spectacular success during his time at Tennessee, winning the SEC regular-season championship in 2008, twice earning the league’s coach of the year award and reaching the NCAA Tournament in each of his six seasons. His 2010 team reached the NCAA Elite Eight and fell one point short of the Final Four. Pearl also earned an NCAA Division II championship while coach at Southern Indiana and reached the NCAA Sweet 16 while coach at Milwaukee.
If a school wanted to hire Pearl now, it would have to go before the NCAA committee on infractions and provide an explanation of how it would assure the program would remain in compliance with NCAA rules. Pearl also is not permitted to contact recruits while his show-cause order is in effect, although he is permitted to evaluate talent.
Auburn has been a coach’s graveyard in the years since Cliff Ellis was asked to leave the Tigers. Jeff Lebo showed great promise as a coach in turning Tennessee Tech into a success in the Ohio Valley and then taking Chattanooga to a total of 40 wins over two seasons, but two winning seasons out of six did not meet the school’s standards. Auburn was on the verge of opening a new arena and wanted a new brand to help promote excitement regarding the program.
A former player at coach under now-Kentucky coach John Calipari, Barbee had won 82 games over four seasons at UTEP, including 26 his final year. But at Auburn he never had a winning season and never came close to one in league play. His composite SEC mark was 18-50. He was told of his dismissal at the team hotel in Atlanta following Auburn’s first-night implosion at the SEC Tournament, where the Tigers lost 74-56 to a South Carolina team that won only five league games.
“I believe we should compete for championships in men’s basketball,” athletic director Jay Jabos said. “It’s time for somebody else to have a turn. We need to find somebody to come in here and take what we have here now and put some more in and compete for SEC titles.”
