Bruce Pearl steps down after 11 seasons at Auburn Tigers, son Steven set to take over the reins

As he prepares to depart as head coach of the Tigers, Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl surprised everyone on Monday, according to ESPN's Jeff Borzello. The news came in on Monday, September 22, 2025, from Auburn, Alabama.

The veteran coach will retire after 11 years as head coach of the Tigers, according to various reports. It is anticipated that Steven Pearl, Pearl's son, will succeed Pearl as head coach at Auburn.

Bruce Pearl steps down, Steven Pearl set to continue Auburn basketball legacy

The Purdue men's basketball team will reportedly be without their two-time Final Four coach when they play Auburn in the Indy Classic this season. Pearl, 65, has spent 11 seasons as Auburn's coach. Under Pearl's direction, the Tigers have made it to six of the previous seven NCAA tournaments. Two times, notably in 2025 when center Johni Broome was an All-American, they made it to the Final Four. Pearl will leave her position as an NCAA head coach with a 477-224 (.680) record. He won the SEC Coach of the Year award four times, twice at Tennessee and Auburn, and three times at Milwaukee in the Horizon League.

According to reports, Steven Pearl, Pearl's son, will take over as Auburn's next head coach. Steven has worked for his father as an assistant.

Pearl is quite vocal about X and frequently tweets his political opinions, but little information has been made public on his future plans. He has also spoken up in press conferences about political issues.According to a May report, Bruce Pearl was considered to succeed Tommy Tuberville in the U.S. Senate. Tuberville is a candidate for Alabama governor. Before starting as head coach, Pearl worked as an assistant at Iowa for seven years in the Big Ten. During his career, he had records of 706-268 at Auburn, Milwaukee, Tennessee, and Southern Indiana.

Bruce Pearl’s decorated coaching career sets stage for son Steven Pearl to take Auburn reins

Prior to that, Pearl was the head coach of Milwaukee for four seasons and Tennessee for six seasons. During his six seasons as a coach, Pearl led Tennessee to the NCAA tournament twice and Milwaukee to the NCAA tournament twice.In 2025, Pearl won the Associated Press National Coach of the Year award for leading Auburn to a national championship for a large portion of the season. Auburn became a dependable NCAA tournament team under his leadership.

The Tigers have advanced to six tournaments in the past seven years under his leadership.

They also made it to the Final Four twice, including in 2025 when center Johni Broome was named an All-American. With Southern Indiana, he advanced to and won the Division II national championship game twice. He made it to the Elite Eight with Tennessee and the Sweet 16 with Milwaukee.Pearl has won the SEC regular season four times, the SEC Tournament twice, and SEC Coach of the Year four times between his tenures at Auburn and the Volunteers. Regarding Steven Pearl, he has been employed at Auburn since 2017. He is 38 years old. Since 2023, he has been the Tigers' associate head coach.Also read: Former Saint Joseph’s coach Billy Lange joins New York Knicks as assistant under Mike Brown