AUBURN, Ala. – His dad used a dry-erase marker on a white board. Steven Pearl crafts his pregame points of emphasis on his laptop.
Different delivery methods. A similar message.
After helping Auburn win five SEC championships and make two trips to the Final Four in 11 seasons in positions of increasing responsibility on Bruce Pearl’s staff, Steven Pearl debuts as the Tigers’ head coach Monday at sold-out Neville Arena against Bethune-Cookman.
“I’m excited that we have 10 new guys that get to play in front of The Jungle and in front of the Auburn family,” Pearl said. “I know they’ve been really looking forward to it. We’ve had great support in our first two exhibitions.”
If those two exhibitions are any indication, Auburn’s scoreboard will get a workout this season. The Tigers scored 95 points against Oklahoma State in their first preseason game in Birmingham, then dropped 100 on Memphis last week in Atlanta in their second.
“We’re going to have our hands full in our first one,” Pearl said. “Excited about the challenge, excited to play in front of our home crowd and looking forward to building off what we were able to see (in Thursday’s exhibition 100-71 win over Memphis).”
Former NBA standout Reggie Theus coaches Bethune-Cookman.
“They’ve got a lot of really talented guys on the roster this year,” Pearl said. “They have a McDonald’s All-American, Arterio Morris, who transferred in, a guy who’s been at Texas and Kansas. And he might be the third or fourth best player on their team. It speaks to the depth of that team.”
New to this head coaching gig, Steven Pearl is adjusting to his new pregame routine, noting that his dad’s schedule before tipoff seemed more hurried.
And that slide deck?
“It’s not as busy. It’s a little more bullet point and I speak on those things, but it takes me 10 minutes to put that together at the hotel,” Pearl said. “BP would use that time to put together the board. He was always visiting with people.
“He felt like he didn’t have enough time pregame whereas I’m trying to figure out what to do with my time at this point.”
The Steven Pearl era begins Monday at 7 p.m. CT when No. 20 Auburn hosts Bethune-Cookman in Tipoff on The Plains on SEC Network+. Andy Burcham and Randall Dickey will bring the action to listeners on the Auburn Sports Network.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer