Steven Pearl was named Auburn’s 22nd head men’s basketball coach on Sept. 22, 2025. He enters his second season as head coach in 2026-27 and his 13th season overall with the program.
An integral part of the best era of men’s basketball at Auburn, Pearl has helped the program win five SEC Championships over the last nine years including two Final Four runs in 2019 and 2025 as an assistant coach and associate head coach.
In his first season as head coach (2025-26), Pearl guided Auburn to a 22-16 overall record and led the Tigers to their first NIT Championship title in program history. The 22 wins were the most by a first-year head coach in program history and were the 10th most single season wins in school history.
Auburn won 20 games for a fifth-consecutive season and did so against the nation’s third hardest schedule. The Tigers played six teams who finished inside the top 10 of the final AP Top 25 poll and defeated seven teams who made the NCAA Tournament.
Pearl faced 11 Final Four coaches in his first season and defeated five of them. Auburn’s win over 14th-ranked and Rick Pitino led St. John’s was his first ranked win as a head coach and it came in his eighth game, making him the fastest first-year head coach at Auburn to defeat a ranked opponent. Pearl also led Auburn to wins over Final Four coaches John Calipari (Arkansas), Todd Golden (Florida), Dana Altman (Oregon) and Chris Beard (Ole Miss).
Under Pearl’s guidance, senior Keyshawn Hall averaged 19.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game and scored the 5th most single season points in Auburn history (694). Additionally, sophomore point guard Tahaad Pettiford increased his scoring from 11.4 points as a freshman to 15.4 ppg as a sophomore and his 585 points were the 15th most single season points at Auburn.
Named one of the 50 most impactful high-major assistant coaches in NCAA Division I basketball by Silver Waves Media in 2024 and 2025, Pearl has helped Auburn to six NCAA Tournament appearances, while producing four NBA Draft first-round picks in Chuma Okeke, Isaac Okoro, Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler and second-round pick Johni Broome.
Two years ago as the Associate Head Coach (2024-25), Pearl helped Auburn to a historic season that saw the Tigers win the SEC Championship and make the program’s second Final Four in the last six NCAA Tournaments, while being ranked No. 1 for a school-record eight consecutive weeks. Auburn won a school-record 32 games with the most difficult schedule in the country, notching 16 wins over Quad 1 opponents.
In addition, the Tigers were ranked No. 1 in the country for the first time ever during the 2021-22 season and were ranked a then school-record 32-consecutive weeks in The Associated Press Top 25 Poll from Oct. 18, 2021, to Feb. 5, 2023. Pearl would help re-establish that record of 41 consecutive ranked weeks from Jan. 1, 2024 through Dec. 22, 2025.
His duties on the bench included opponent scouting, defensive strategies and adjustments as well as in-game play calling. Pearl has also played a huge role in the development of Auburn’s big men to go along with a fervent recruiting strategy.
Auburn ranked in the Top 10 nationally in overall defense three times in four seasons and was just one of only four teams in Division I to accomplish the feat. During that time (2021-2025), the Tigers ranked in the top 13 nationally in effective field goal percentage defense for four straight seasons.
From 2021-25, his Auburn defense ranked second in three-point field goal percentage (.299), third in field goal percentage (.396) and fourth in scoring defense (68.1 ppg) in the Southeastern Conference.
During Pearl’s time on staff, Auburn has produced and developed seven NBA Draft picks and four All-Americans – more pros than the previous two decades. The Tigers have also won more NCAA Tournament games than any SEC program over the last eight years.
Auburn has been a hotbed for producing and developing this next-level talent, particularly from the Atlanta area, including the recruitment of current pros Okoro (No. 5 overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2020), Kessler (No. 22 overall pick by the Memphis Grizzlies in 2022) and Sharife Cooper (No. 48 overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks in 2021).
Over the last four years, Pearl has taken the lead in transfer portal recruiting, landing some of the top transfers in the country in Kessler, Wendell Green Jr., Johni Broome, Denver Jones, Miles Kelly, Keyshawn Hall and Kevin Overton. Kessler earned All-America, National Defensive Player of the Year, SEC Defensive Player of the Year and All-SEC First Team honors.
Broome developed into one of the best players in Auburn history, as he was named the SEC Player of the Year, was National Player of the Year and a unanimous first team All-America selection in 2024-25. Green Jr. was a second team All-SEC selection while Jones was named to the SEC’s All-Defensive team.
Pearl served as acting head coach against North Alabama resulting in his first career coaching victory, 70-44, on Dec. 14, 2021, at Neville Arena.
In April of 2022, he also participated in the National Association of Basketball Coaches and Athletic Director U’s invitation-only Collegiate Coaching Consortium at the 2022 NCAA Men’s Final Four in New Orleans. The consortium brought together rising basketball coaches and Division I athletic directors for a rigorous, multi-day academy, helping those rising coaches prepare for their first head coaching opportunity.
Pearl spent the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons as the director of basketball operations after his first year as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. As the director of operations, he was in charge of team travel while also helping plan team practices, working with the team’s academics and all of the Auburn Basketball Camps.
Pearl was a four-year letterwinner for his father, Bruce Pearl, at Tennessee, playing in 101 games from 2007-11. He helped Tennessee to back-to-back SEC East Championships in 2008 and 2009, with the ‘08 team winning the league by two games over Kentucky and Mississippi State. He also appeared in the NCAA Tournament each year he was a part of the program with the Volunteers advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2007 and 2008 and the Elite 8 in 2010.
Pearl, who was a three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in marketing and international business in December 2010. He has also taken classes towards a graduate degree.
Following graduation, Pearl was a medical sales representative for Stryker Corp for three years before joining the Auburn staff. He and his wife, Brittany, were married on Aug. 27, 2022, and have a daughter named Lainey born in December 2024.