AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Auburn coach Bruce Pearl has agreed to a contract extension to stay on the Plains.
On Friday night, athletic director Allen Greene announced in a social media video with Pearl that “we locked him up,” under the words “for life.” Pearl, 61, led the top-ranked Tigers to their first Final Four in 2019.
They secured the No. 1 ranking for the first time in program history this week and come into Oklahoma’s game on Saturday on a 16-game winning streak and with a 19-1 record.
“We locked him up,” Greene said in the video.
Auburn did not release any details about the new deal, which Pearl said “wasn’t that difficult” to agree.
“The family and I are going to be able to stay and be your basketball coach for a long, long time,” the coach said in the video. “I’m grateful. I’m humbled and lucky to be your coach.
The Tigers have made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and were 25-6 when the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19 in 2020.
Auburn is 113-39 the past four seasons, even going 13-14 last season.
The Tigers served a self-imposed postseason ban last season and received four years of probation for NCAA violations involving former assistant coach Chuck Person. Pearl received a two-game suspension for failing to supervise.
Pearl was fired from Tennessee in 2011 after the NCAA charged him with unethical conduct, and then other violations surfaced. Auburn hired him in 2014 to take over a program that hadn’t been in the NCAA tournament since 2003.
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