Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl took Auburn to new heights during the 2024-25 season and has been rewarded with a national award.
The National Association of Basketball Coaches announced Tuesday that Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl has been awarded Coach of the Year honors. It is the second time that Pearl has been awarded Coach of the Year by the NABC, winning his first in 1995 with Division 2 Southern Indiana. He is also the first coach from the SEC to win the award since John Calipari took home the crown in 2015 as the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, and is the seventh SEC coach to win the award, joining the likes of Tubby Smith, Nolan Richardson, and Adolph Rupp.
Auburn won the SEC regular season championship under Pearl's watch with a 32-5 regular season record and has won 19 games against quad-1 competition. Pearl also led the Tigers to the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history, and their second-ever No. 1 seed. Earlier this season, Pearl passed Joel Eaves as Auburn's all-time winningest head coach by claiming his 214th victory since taking over ahead of the 2014-15 season. This week, Pearl is preparing his team to compete in the second Final Four in program history, and hopes to leave San Antonio with the program's first-ever national championship.
Pearl won the NABC Coach of the Year over several prominent names including Rick Pitino of St. John's, Houston's Kelvin Sampson, Michigan State's Tom Izzo, and Dennis Gates of Missouri. Each of the aforementioned coaches, including Pearl, won Coach of the Year for their respective regions.
Earned.
— Auburn Basketball (@AuburnMBB) April 1, 2025
Congrats, Coach 馃憦 pic.twitter.com/tezM6n5Mvn
This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl wins NABC Coach of the Year
