Bruce Pearl becomes second Auburn coach to be named AP Coach of the Year
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For the first time ever, the Associated Press could not decide on a sole winner for its men’s college basketball Coach of the Year award.
Bruce Pearl of Auburn and Rick Pitino of St. John’s each got 20 votes for the award, tying for the top spot and splitting the annual award from the AP.
Louisville’s Pat Kelsey received eight votes and Duke’s Jon Scheyer got five. Dennis Gates (Missouri) and Tom Izzo (Michigan State) each received three and Drake’s Ben McCollum and UC San Diego’s Eric Olen each got one vote.
Pearl becomes just the second Auburn coach to ever win the award, following Cliff Ellis who won in 1999 when the Tigers went to the Sweet 16. Pearl is also the first SEC coach to win the award since John Calipari won in 2015.
Bruce Pearl at Auburn
This season, Pearl led the Tigers to the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. The team already has a program-record 32 wins this season and is set to make its second ever appearance in the Final Four—both under Pearl.
Auburn also spent a program-record 8 consecutive weeks in the top spot of the Associated Press rankings this season.
Since arriving on The Plains, Pearl has led the Tigers to 246 wins across 11 seasons. During that time, Auburn has:
- 6 NCAA Tournament appearances
- 2 Final Four appearances
- 3 SEC regular season championships
- 2 SEC Tournament championships
Pearl is hoping that resume includes Auburn’s first national title by the end of the season but a familiar foe stands in the way.
Auburn vs. Florida
Here’s what you need to know before tip off on Saturday:
- Who: No. 1 Auburn Tigers (32-5) vs. No. 1 Florida Gators (34-4)
- When: 5:09PM | Saturday, April 5
- Where: Alamodome | San Antonio, Texas
- Watch: CBS
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