Auburn Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl Retiring After 11-Year Tenure

Bruce Pearl has stepped down as the men’s basketball coach at Auburn and will move into an ambassador’s role in the athletic department as special assistant to the athletics director, the school announced Monday.

“Eleven years ago, I was given the opportunity of a lifetime to become the head basketball coach at Auburn, and it has been nothing short of amazing,” Pearl said in a statement. “With the Auburn Family’s unwavering support, we have built a program from the ground up and taken it to heights it had never reached before.

“Not only have we won championships, but we have built the best home-court advantage in college basketball, we’ve invested in this community and changed lives, and we’ve developed and graduated Auburn men. We built a program with the core tenants of faith, family and passion, and together, we made history. I hope we have made Auburn proud.”

Bruce Pearl Led Auburn To Final Four Twice

Pearl, 65, has been the head coach at Auburn for 11 seasons, leading the Tigers to six NCAA tournament appearances and both of the program’s Final Four runs.

He’s coming off a season in which he led Auburn to its second-ever Final Four appearance.

The Tigers earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA men’s tournament after winning the SEC regular-season championship, compiling 32 wins before falling to Florida in the national semifinal.

Dear Auburn Family, I truly love you.@CoachBrucePearl x #WarEagle pic.twitter.com/xFJAEetMLv

— Auburn Basketball (@AuburnMBB) September 22, 2025

During Pearl’s time at Auburn, the Tigers also earned three SEC regular-season titles and won two SEC tournament championships. They had a total of seven winning seasons under Pearl.

He finishes with a record of 246-125 at Auburn, but only 232 of those wins are recognized because of NCAA infractions that led the Tigers to vacate games from the 2016-17 season.

Pearl had previously served as head coach at Tennessee, Milwaukee, and Southern Indiana. His career coaching record stands at 706-268, according to College Basketball Reference.

Pearl Announces He Won’t Run for Senate In 2026

For the past several months, Pearl has been linked to a post-coaching career in politics, with him running as a potential candidate for Tommy Tuberville’s open U.S. Senate seat.

However, Pearl said Monday that he’s not running for Senate.

“Many of you know that I thought and prayed about maybe running for United States Senate, maybe to be the next great senator from the state of Alabama,” Pearl said.

“That would’ve required leaving Auburn. And instead, the university has given me an opportunity to stay here and be Auburn’s senator.”

Steven Pearl, Pearl’s son and the Tigers’ associate head coach, received a five-year contract to become the 22nd head coach for men’s basketball. He’s been an assistant under his father since 2017, and was promoted to Auburn’s associate head coach in 2023.