Steven Pearl was promoted to Associate Head Coach on Aug. 1, 2023. He is in his 11th overall season with the Auburn men’s basketball program.
“Steven has been an integral part of the success that we’ve had at Auburn from the beginning,” Head Coach Bruce Pearl said. “Many people may forget that he started as an assistant strength coach and worked his way up through our program. He has been able to recruit and coach at a very high level. His ability to communicate and teach our system to our players is second to none. He is truly one of the best assistant coaches in the country and has earned this promotion.”
Named one of the 50 most impactful high-major assistant coaches in NCAA Division I basketball by Silver Waves Media the last two years, Pearl has been instrumental in one of the biggest rebuilds in college basketball under his father’s tutelage.
Auburn has won four SEC Championship titles over the last seven years, made five NCAA Tournament appearances – including the Final Four in 2019 – and produced four NBA Draft first-round picks in Chuma Okeke, Isaac Okoro, Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler.
In addition, the Tigers were ranked a program-best No. 1 in the country during the 2021-22 season and ranked a school-record 32-consecutive weeks in The Associated Press Top 25 Poll from Oct. 18, 2021, to Feb. 5, 2023.
His duties on the bench include 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.
During Pearl’s time on staff, Auburn has produced and developed six NBA Draft picks and three 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 six 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 three years, Steven 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, JP Pegues and Miles Kelly. Kessler earned All-America, National Defensive Player of the Year, SEC Defensive Player of the Year and All-SEC First Team honors, while Green Jr. and Broome developed into All-SEC Second Team players last season. Jones is a junior transfer to the squad, who earned a spot on the All-Conference USA First Team.
He 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.