Maccabiah Hoops Coach Bruce Pearl Signs $13M Deal To Coach Auburn
Image by getty images
Bruce Pearl, who led the U.S. team to the gold medal at the 2009 Maccabiah Games, was hired as the head coach of the Auburn University men’s basketball team.
The former coach at the University of Tennessee, Pearl was hired Tuesday to replace Tony Barbee, who was fired last week. Pearl reportedly signed a six-year contract worth $2.2 million per year.
He moved to ESPN as a college basketball analyst after being fired at the Southeastern Conference school in 2012 for recruiting violations. Auburn also belongs to the SEC.
“I’m humbled and blessed to back in the game that I love,” Pearl, a founding member of the Jewish Coaches Association, said in a statement. “I don’t know how long it will take, but it’s time to rebuild the Auburn basketball program, and bring it to a level of excellence so many of the other teams on campus enjoy.”
The three-time national coach of the year had led Tennessee to the NCAA Tournament for five consecutive seasons prior to his firing. Before Knoxville, where he gained national attention for painting his upper body orange for a women’s basketball game, Pearl had enjoyed success in coaching stops at Milwaukee and Div. II Southern Indiana.
His American squad at the Maccabiah Games defeated host Israel, 95-86, in overtime to claim the gold medal. His son Steven was a member of his Maccabiah and Tennessee teams.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Make a Passover Gift Today!
Dive In
-
Fast Forward FSU shooting suspect used neo-Nazi imagery on social media, ADL finds
-
Fast Forward Pope Francis’ final speech called for ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza war
-
Fast Forward Israeli army fires deputy commander after finding ‘operational errors’ in killing of 15 Gazans
-
Fast Forward ‘F–k Israel’ message displayed at Coachella music festival and streamed to millions
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 4
Opinion What Jewish university presidents say: Trump is exploiting campus antisemitism, not fighting it
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward FSU shooting suspect used neo-Nazi imagery on social media, ADL finds
-
Fast Forward Pope Francis’ final speech called for ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza war
-
Opinion Shackled, imprisoned and subjected to false accusations, Kilmar Abrego Garcia recalls the fate of Captain Alfred Dreyfus
-
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.