AUBURN, Alabama — With its team ranked No. 2 nationally and the second-best SEC start in Auburn basketball history, Bruce Pearl is one of 15 nominees to win the 2022 Werner Ladder Naismith Men’s Coach of the Year Award. The Atlanta Tipoff Club made the announcement on Friday.
Auburn is 24-2 overall and 12-1 in the league in Saturday’s road game against the Florida Gators. Three of Pearl’s players, freshman forward Jabari Smith, sophomore forward/center Walker Kessler, and sophomore point guard Wendell Green, Jr. are under consideration for National Player honors. year for their positions.
Other Coach of the Year nominees include Mark Adams of Texas Tech, John Calipari of Kentucky, Ed Cooley of Providence, Scott Drew of Baylor, Mark Few of Gonzaga, Steve Forbes of Wake Forest, Greg Gard of Wisconsin , Jeff Linder of Wyoming, Tommy Lloyd of Arizona, Bob McKillop of Davidson, Matt McMahon of Murray State, Kelvin Sampson of Houston, Shaka Smart of Marquette and Brad Underwood of Illinois.
This season, the Tigers achieved the first No. 1 ranking in program history. Auburn has already set a school record for most blocked shots in a season and the Tigers are undefeated at home. The team is currently two games ahead of Kentucky and Tennessee in the SEC regular season standings as the Tigers seek to win their second straight regular season league championship in Pearl’s eight seasons in as head coach.
Under Pearl, the Tigers have won 118 over the past five seasons, the most of any team in the Southeastern Conference. They also made the first appearance on the NCAA Tournament Final Four program in 2019.
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