Nobody has done more damage to the Auburn Tigers program and coach Steven Pearl in the last month than his father, Bruce Pearl. Surely, he sees that all he has done the last two weeks is turn public sentiment against Steven and the basketball team that was gifted to him.
Auburn will be the 12 seed at the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament when it gets underway on Wednesday in Nashville. That would usually mean that they draw little attention outside of their own fans, but thanks to the big mouth of their former coach, the Tigers may be entering the tournament as the most hated team in the field.
There is no shortage of people who dislike the elder Pearl. As Bomani Jones once said, “he is probably my least favorite college basketball coach of all time in a world with Mike Krzyzewski in it.” But until this month, Steven Pearl could probably have convinced himself that no one was going to hold his dad against him. Now, that is almost certainly not the case.
Nobody respects a nepo baby
Steven Pearl is not doing anything egregious by claiming his 16-15 team deserves to be included in the NCAA’s field of 68. I don’t agree, and you might not either, but college basketball coaches have been doing this for years, and KenPom’s advanced metrics show that Auburn has a decent resume.
Bruce Pearl being Auburn’s biggest advocate in the media is already fishy. The second he came right out and said that, of course, Steven, being his successor, was the result of nepotism, he turned the tide against the Tigers.
Auburn won the SEC’s regular-season title last year. Bruce led the team to its second Final Four appearance. If you’re just comparing this year to last year, it sure does look like Steven is the problem.
Now, that’s not fair to Steven, of course. Three-quarters of the 2024-25 roster is gone, including SEC Player of the Year Johnni Broom and All-SEC performer Chad Baker-Mazara. But when even your own father says your promotion was the result of nepotism, people on the fence have little choice but to assume the biggest problem is that there is that the person leading the team is unqualified.
Insulting flip-flops
You have every right to be skeptical of Miami (OH)’s resume. Yes, they are 31-0, but that comes with just two quad two wins and no quad one wins. There isn’t a lot of quality on that resume.
There aren’t any losses on that resume either, though. Zero is fifteen less than fifteen, which is the number of losses on Auburn’s resume. For those unfamiliar with college basketball, fifteen losses in a 31-game season is usually frowned upon.
Bruce Pearl could have stumped for Auburn and limited any negative reaction to whispers and eyerolls by simply making his points about Auburn. Instead, he picked out a victim and went looking for platforms that would not only let him say Auburn belongs, but that Miami (OH) does not.
On top of that, he insulted everyone’s intelligence. Three days before he was shouting from the rooftops of Outkick that his child was an unqualified nepo-baby, he was scoffing at the idea that he even liked his kid enough to think about Auburn when evaluating Miami’s tournament resume. And then, after all of the controversy, he dared to go on national television and say he was suddenly “rooting” for the MAC to get two teams in the dance and for Miami to get an at-large bid if Akron wins the conference tournament after calling them out for weeks. What?
Bruce Pearl is thirsty for attention
Bruce Pearl is a publicity hound. There’s no way around that, and I don’t think he would say that label is unfair. If you’re talking, Bruce Pearl would prefer that you talk about him.
That’s why he showed up on Capitol Hill uninvited and invoked Pat Summit’s name when the House of Representatives was debating a bill to limit trans girls’ ability to participate in sports. It’s why he is lending his name to a bill to change the way the West Bank is recognized in textbooks in the state of Tennessee.
It’s not that I don’t think Bruce Pearl believes in these things. I think he is very happy to lend an expert opinion.
He’s one of two people who aren’t employed by NewsNation that I have seen drop everything to appear on NewsNation. That network’s highest-rated show doesn’t even average 15,000 viewers! The only reason to go on is that you are thirsty for airtime. The other is Stephen A. Smith. I mean, come on!
It’s easy to dismiss anything Pearl has to say about anything when it goes against the grain. That’s just what clout chasers do. He may have real conviction and compelling points to make about Auburn. Plenty of people aren’t interested in hearing a message he delivers, though.
I genuinely feel bad for Steven Pearl. Auburn has the kind of resume that keeps a slightly above .500 team in the NCAA Tournament conversation. It will be an uphill battle, though. His dad has eliminated any goodwill or benefit of the doubt the Tigers may have had.
They open SEC Tournament play on Wednesday. They should be able to beat Mississippi State, but Bruce Pearl has put the term nepo baby in everyone’s head. Steven’s team will probably have to win the whole tournament to beat those charges and move on to March Madness. And he has his father to thank.
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