ATLANTA – Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl has been named one of 15 late season watch list candidates for the 2022 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's Coach of the Year Award as announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club on Friday.
Pearl, in his eighth season with the No. 2-ranked Tigers and 27th season overall, is joined on the short list by Mark Adams of Texas Tech, John Calipari of Kentucky, Ed Cooley of Providence, Scott Drew of Baylor, Mark Few of Gonzaga, Steve Forbes of Wake Forest, Greg Gard of Wisconsin, Jeff Linder of Wyoming, Tommy Lloyd of Arizona, Bob McKillop of Davidson, Matt McMahon of Murray State, Kelvin Sampson of Houston, Shaka Smart of Marquette and Brad Underwood of Illinois.
This season, Pearl and his staff have led Auburn to its first-ever No. 1 national ranking in both The Associated Press and Coaches Top 25 Polls, another 20+ win campaign, second-best start in program history, a 19-game win streak from Nov. 25 to Feb. 5, two wins over a ranked opponent, series sweeps over Alabama and Georgia for the first time since the 1950s, team single-season record for most blocked shots (227), second-longest road win streak (7) in school history, second-ever appearance on ESPN's CollegeGame Day and 14-straight sellout games at Auburn Arena.
Pearl currently ranks among the Top 15 coaches in conference history by victories (11th, 293) and in SEC regular-season games (14th, 128) during his time at Tennessee and Auburn combined.
Auburn continues to be the winningest team in the SEC over the last five years with 118 victories to date – the best five-year run in school history. Four of the program's Top 7 single-season win totals have come under Pearl. The Tigers have also produced next level talent with four NBA Draft picks in the last three years, which is tied for seventh-most nationally and third in the SEC.
Pearl (Southern Indiana, Tennessee and Auburn) is one of only three known head coaches to ever lead a school to a No. 1 national ranking next to Frank McGuire (St. John's, North Carolina, South Carolina) and John Calipari (UMass, Memphis, Kentucky).
He is also the first and only head coach to lead two SEC schools to the program's first-ever No. 1 national ranking. The Tigers were ranked a program-best three-consecutive weeks in the AP Poll.
