ATLANTA – Auburn Head Coach and 2022 SEC Coach of the Year Bruce Pearl has been named a semifinalist for the 2022 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's Coach of the Year Award as announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club on Thursday.
During the regular season, Pearl led the Tigers to their first-ever No. 1 national ranking in both national polls, a program-record 15 conference regular-season wins, an outright SEC regular-season championship title (first since 1999), a 19-game win streak, the program's third all-time No. 1 SEC Tournament seed, an undefeated 16-0 season on their home court at Neville Arena and their fourth 25+ win season in the last five years.
Pearl was joined on the short list with Mark Adams of Texas Tech, John Calipari of Kentucky, Ed Cooley of Providence, Scott Drew of Baylor, Steve Forbes of Wake Forest, Greg Gard of Wisconsin, Tommy Lloyd of Arizona, Matt McMahon of Murray State and Kelvin Sampson of Houston.
He was previously named NABC Division II Coach of the Year in 1995 during his time at Southern Indiana and The Sporting News Coach of the Year in 2006 at Tennessee.
