Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl celebrates after his game in Nashville against Texas A&M in this March 12, 2015, file photo.Former Tennessee and current Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl hopes the ongoing discussion regarding the “Stars and Bars” can result in a greater appreciation for the “Stars and Stripes.”
“I think it’s good in this country that we have this debate, and I would like to take this opportunity to honor our flag and to fly our flag,” Pearl said this week on a teleconference. “So much is being made of the Confederate flag right now, but with July Fourth coming up, let’s raise our flag. Let’s honor our flag and what it stands for.
“I understand the freedoms that our country enjoys, and it bothers me when people desecrate our flag and don’t honor it. It bothers me tremendously.”
Pearl is among several Southeastern Conference basketball coaches who has weighed in on whether the Confederate flag should be displayed in public places. South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier said in 2007 that the Confederate flag should come down from the capitol grounds in Columbia, but the issue heightened significantly last month when nine people were shot to death at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.
Pictures later were revealed of the alleged gunman, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, draped in the Confederate flag.