Auburn head basketball coach Bruce Pearl led a brilliant Final Four effort during the Tigers’ run to the 2025 Final Four. Unfortunately, as he’ll admit, he didn’t get the job done against Florida in a 79-73 loss at the Alamodome.
Pearl’s only path to redemption is on the recruiting trail, and when the time is right, the hardwood. AL.com’s Peter Rauterkus projects a tough path to redemption, bringing up another “R” word to describe what’s next:
Rebuilding.
“Auburn will have somewhat of a rebuild on its hands, losing a number of key players due to exhausted eligibility. The Tigers have a few players that could return as well, but nothing is guaranteed,” Rauterkus wrote.
Johni Broome, Dylan Cardwell, Miles Kelly, Denver Jones, and Chris Moore are definite goners. So that’s four of the team’s five starters for sure not returning. Chad Baker-Mazara scolded a reporter for asking him if he’d return next year, so CBM’s return is a question mark.
A rebuild is not an unfair label. But luckily, this isn’t pro sports. Rebuilding can happen quickly.
Basketball has fewer players and is a more spontaneous sport than football, so Pearl won’t have to suffer like Hugh Freeze did after the Bryan Harsin years — which were themselves afflicted by Gus Malzahn’s firing coming during a once-in-a-lifetime COVID-19-stricken recruiting cycle. Bruce served his time in 2014 following Tony Barbee’s departure.
With that said, there are many more variables in winning March Madness. Pearl is one of the best and highest-paid coaches in the game, and he hasn’t even made a championship game. That’s the reality of being in NCAA Division I hoops, where there are as many teams as days in a year.
An already unlikely road with the best team in program history is likely going to get tougher in 2025-26 with a target on the Tigers’ back.
Until further notice, that’s what Bruce is signing up for. And if how this Final Four team responded to their loss is any indication, the journey is the destination for Pearl.
Whether or not he ever wins it all at AU, he’ll have been the best thing to ever happen to its basketball program.