AUBURN, Ala. – Former coach and current ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg visited Auburn last week when the Tigers held their Pro Day. He and head coach Bruce Pearl know each other well from their days of coaching and working together at ESPN.
We caught up with Greenberg to ask him about Pearl as well as this year's Auburn team.
Q: Are you surprised with what Bruce has done with this Auburn program?
Greenberg: "I'm not. The biggest part of recruiting is evaluating. Bruce has always done a great job of evaluating and developing players. When you're winning at Southern Indiana or Wisconsin-Milwaukee – when you're winning at those places, there's a more level playing field. So one, you've got to evaluate players. He has a keen eye of understanding who can play for him, and I think that's really important. I always say, 'Who are you and how do you win?' Bruce knows exactly who he is and how they win, and he also knows who can play for him. You've got a high energy. You've got to be passionate. You've got to have a great work ethic. You've got to understand how to be a great teammate.
"So no, it doesn't surprise me. What surprises me is he's taken this environment, and he's created an energy within the community and on campus. When you're sold out for season tickets four years in a row right from the get go, that's not an easy thing to do. To win an SEC championship, not an easy thing to do. But he's got his guys to trust and more importantly, he's gotten the players and the community all to believe. They feed off his passion, off his energy."
Q: What stood out about last year's team?
Greenberg: "I think their toughness. I think their relentless way they came at you. Dealing with adversity. I say 'Adversity lives with the weak and visits the strong.' At the start of that season, they faced a lot of adversity. But that adversity may have helped create a cause and probably brought them that much closer together. And I think every single night, they played with a chip on their shoulder. They played like they had something to prove. And then I think one of Bruce's greatest strengths is that he attacks matchups and puts guys in position to play to their strengths. That's what he did with that team.
"Now they lost two very good players from that team, but he's got a new group that he's got to figure out. This group has to understand that it's a whole new season because instead of being the hunter, they're going to be the hunted. They've become a big game on other people's schedules. And I think it starts right from the very beginning. So be consistent in their approach – consistency gives you confidence – and then having the same mindset, the same DNA that they had a year ago of playing with a little chip on their shoulder. I know the 'unfinished business' is their theme. I would say last year was a season to build on. They need to build on last season – with a different team. Remember, it's not the same team. It's a different team."
Q: What's the vibe you've gotten from Bruce about this year's team?
Greenberg: "I think he's still trying to figure this team out. The vibe to me is that he loves this team. He knows he has good players, but now it's his job to figure them out. They're going to be bigger, so how do you play when you're bigger? Obviously when Austin [Wiley] is in the game, he's got to get touches. How are you going to manage your roster because you have more guys that can contribute? You might not have a lot of guys that separate themselves, but you have a lot of guys that can contribute. And then defensively, he lost some good defenders. I think losing physical bodies is something that concerns him, but he'll figure it out because that's the challenge of coaching. I think that's the thing that really intrigues him about coaching is taking this group and trying to figure out an offensive and defensive philosophy, how to put guys in position to play to their strengths, how to define your DNA and who you are.
Q: What's your best Bruce story? I know you have a good one.
Greenberg: "We did this thing 'Coach to Coach' where he'd be one guy and I'd be the other. And my man likes to role play a lot. So he would get into it. Notre Dame was going to play Louisville, the College Gameday game. We were in the studio, and that was going to be our 'Coach to Coach.' He was going to be Rick Pitino, and I was going to be Mike Brey and come in with my mock turtleneck. BP was so fired up because he went and got a white suit because the game was a whiteout. He looked like a scene from 'Staying Alive.' He was just fired up. And then we had this crazy snowstorm. I couldn't even get to the studio, and we never did 'Coach to Coach.' He was crushed."
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf
