If Auburn isn’t able to slow the Arkansas and Georgia men’s basketball teams this week, first-year Tigers coach Bruce Pearl could be staring at a brand new predicament.
“I’ve never had a losing season in coaching,” Pearl said Monday on the SEC teleconference.
Auburn stunned LSU in Baton Rouge last Thursday night but could not build on the upset, losing to visiting Ole Miss on Saturday night. The loss to the Rebels dropped the Tigers to 11-12 overall and 3-7 within the league, leaving Pearl with a steep challenge this week against a pair of likely NCAA tournament invitees.
Pearl’s toughest season as a coach occurred in 2002, when his first Wisconsin-Milwaukee team went 16-13. His sixth and final season at Tennessee resulted in a 19-15 team that limped down the stretch in 2011, but he’s otherwise overseen 17 20-win seasons.
“There is a chance that this team doesn’t finish above .500, but I can tell you that’s it still a team that I’ve enjoyed coaching,” he said. “They are still listening to the game plans and are still competing, and from a standpoint of being a teacher and a coach, we’re still engaged. I’m enjoying this group, and I’m blessed to be back in coaching.”