Bruce Pearl opens NCAA postgame press conference by calling to ‘bring the hostages home’
All three No. 1 seeds that are coached by Jews in the NCAA men’s tournament are headed to the Sweet Sixteen
Bruce Pearl celebrates with his team after defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide at Auburn Arena, Feb. 1, 2022. (Michael Chang/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Bruce Pearl, whose Auburn men’s basketball team advanced to the Sweet Sixteen this weekend, opened his postgame press conference by calling to “bring the hostages home.”
Auburn is one of three No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament with a Jewish coach. All three made the tournament’s round of 16, as has the biggest Jewish star on the court, Danny Wolf.
Pearl is known for his outspoken support for Israel, which he put on display Saturday after the Tigers beat Creighton in the second round. He began his press conference by acknowledging the team’s victory, then spoke about Edan Alexander, an American-Israeli held hostage by Hamas who is believed to be alive.
Pearl said it was “God’s plan… to give me an opportunity to start this press conference really briefly and remind the world that Edan Alexander is still held hostage in Gaza right now. An American held hostage. And there aren’t enough people in this country that know his name.”
He went on, “So I asked the players if it was OK if I started out this press conference and just called out the name of an American. Bring the hostages home.”
Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl opens post-game press conference with a message:
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) March 23, 2025
“Bring the hostages home.”
pic.twitter.com/H425jtn6TX
Speaking later in the press conference, Pearl repeated that he believes one of the reasons for Auburn’s success is that God has given him a platform as a Jewish American. He also recounted his grandfather’s story of immigration to the United States and defended Israel, which he called the “ancestral homeland for the Jewish people.”
“It starts with my faith and it starts with answering the question, ‘Why has God blessed Auburn and this basketball team the way he has all season long?’” he said. “And honestly it’s to, I think, put us in a platform — in this case right now, myself, as a Jewish American who loves his country more than anything else in the world.”
Pearl is a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump. And on Sunday, he shared a post on the social network X saying that the two-state solution, which would see a Palestinian state established alongside Israel, “is dead.”
In the men’s tournament, two other No. 1 seeds are coached by Jews, and all three won their first- and second-round games, sending them to the round of 16 later this week. They are:
- Duke, No. 1 in the East, coached by Jon Scheyer. The Blue Devils won two blowouts and will face No. 4 Arizona on Thursday.
- Florida, No. 1 in the West, coached by Todd Golden. The Gators edged UConn in a thriller on Sunday and will face No. 4 Maryland on Thursday.
- Auburn, No. 1 in the South, coached by Pearl. The Tigers won both their games by double digits and will face No. 5 Michigan on Friday.
The Auburn-Michigan matchup, on Friday night, will pit Pearl’s team against Danny Wolf, the Israeli-American player who’s had a standout college career and is expected to be drafted into the NBA later this year. After a nail-biter in the first round, Michigan beat Texas A&M to advance to the Sweet 16.
In the women’s tournament, one No. 1 seed, USC, has a Jewish coach, Lindsay Gottlieb. USC won its first-round game by 46 points and will play No. 9 Mississippi State on Monday.
The Forward is free to read but not free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
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.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
