600 wins: Bruce Pearl ‘grateful’ to reach coaching milestone

AUBURN, Ala. – For Bruce Pearl, Saturday’s game started like any other game. He was seated on the bench alongside his staff until about 20 seconds in when he got up to yell something across the court to his team.

You would have had no idea that Pearl, wrapping up his seventh season as head coach at Auburn, was at 599 career wins with a chance to win No. 600 against Mississippi State. Pearl didn’t even realize he was one win away until his assistant coach, Wes Flanigan, popped in his office the week of the game and said, “You get this one Saturday, it will be your 600th.”

“I knew I was getting close, but I honestly did not know that I could get it (this season),” Pearl said after the game. “Because let’s face it, when we were losing early in the year, I was not even thinking about it and didn’t really think it was possible.”

It wasn’t until late in the game, sometime between Flanigan’s violent one-handed dunk and the final seconds ticking away, when it started to sink in for Pearl. Six hundred wins.

Immediately afterwards, Pearl walked over and spoke briefly with the Mississippi State coaches. He then went to midcourt and with his players nudging him, he danced while “Shout” played in the background. After the team prayer, the celebration continued. The players and staff were all wearing shirts and holding up signs to commemorate the moment.

Some of those same shirts and signs had made their way to the fans at Auburn Arena.

As Pearl walked off with his team and looked up at the fans, he became emotional. That emotion carried over to the locker room when he addressed the players.

“I’m grateful,” he told them. “I can promise you this, guys. I give it a good effort. You get my effort. You do.”

Later in his postgame Zoom call, Pearl said: “I’m just grateful to my coaches, staff, managers, the athletic directors that have hired me and retained me, the fans everywhere for giving me the opportunity, for trusting me to lead their programs. I’m truly grateful.”

Sitting in the chair next to Pearl on Saturday was his son, Steven Pearl. There are few people who have been a part of as many of Bruce’s wins over the years as Steven.

From growing up and being around his dad’s teams at Southern Indiana and then Milwaukee to playing for Bruce at Tennessee to getting his first assistant coach position under his dad at Auburn, Steven has been next to his dad almost every step of the way.

“It’s just special,” Steven said. “I don’t know that there’s more than 50 coaches in the country that have gotten 600, so to be in that class is really special. Obviously, he still has years left to continue to coach and keep building it. But you just think back to all the memories that you have throughout those wins – going to the NCAA tournament, winning championships and doing it together.

“Being on his staff right now makes it even more special. To do it at Auburn makes it even more special. And in a really tough season with a really young group, doing it on the last game of the year in front of our home crowd makes it even more special."

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— Auburn Basketball (@AuburnMBB) March 7, 2021

The last part might be what was most fitting about Saturday’s milestone.

Sure, Bruce would have probably loved to earn win No. 600 while clinching another SEC championship or booking another trip to the Sweet 16 or Final Four. But to get it Saturday with a team that could have easily given up weeks ago – it was a perfect representation of the culture Bruce has created at Auburn.

There was no postseason to play for. They were without Sharife Cooper and Justin Powell. And yet, this group persevered in what had been a challenging year already with COVID and finished the season with a win to get No. 600 for their coach.

“We wanted to come out and play hard for him,” junior Jamal Johnson said. “Coach Pearl is one of the best coaches in history of college basketball. He’s up there with all the greats – Dean Smith, Coach K, Coach Cal, everybody. It meant a lot to us to try to come out there and play hard for him, try to get him his 600th win and be a part of that history.”

“It’s very special,” added freshman Dylan Cardwell. “We’ve been through a whole lot of ups and downs, and we weathered every storm that came our way this season. It’s very special to end it with the cherry on top. Six hundred wins is incredible.”

As Pearl walked out of Auburn Arena on Saturday, there were two students, Jacob Patterson and Gregory Adcock, waiting in the atrium hoping to get an autograph and to congratulate him on the victory. They had a giant banner that read, "Congratulations Coach Pearl: 600 Wins.”

Following what had been a long, emotional day, Pearl still took the extra time to greet them and while staying socially distant, he signed his name and added “War Eagle.”

“It’s an unbelievable achievement for him,” Adcock said. “For the program he’s built here and the community he’s built here, he’s almost the face of Auburn. It’s just unbelievable to be here and to watch that because you don’t get to see milestones like that every day, especially with a man who is putting together a career and a resume like he is.”

“To see all of his wins and success pay off in this moment with the 600 wins, it’s really breathtaking,” Patterson said. “And it’s a special moment for me because it was my last game as a student today. So it was really a nice way to send me off.”

Saturday’s victory was the just the right sendoff for Auburn, too. Not just for Pearl but for a group of players who finished the season on a high note and now have a little momentum heading into what could be a special next season next year.

If you ask Pearl, he’s probably happy to get 600 out of the way. The focus can now be turned back on his team as they go through the offseason.

“We keep score,” Pearl said as he exited the arena for the last time. “Milestones matter. History matters. But more than anything I’m probably happier that we won two out of our last three, and the kids get to finish feeling good about themselves.”

But Saturday’s win wasn’t just another win. It was win No. 600.