Bored to death at work and thought I'd do a little piece on the Auburn bassetbawz. Yep, it's tl;soreadifyouwant. If not, lick me.
Until recently, Auburn has had a long history of going with the conservative hire when filling any coaching vacancies in its athletic programs. The hot name in assistant coaches or the guy or gal considered an up-and-comer who had been successful at some Mid Major program. Right now, it would be considered a major coup for any team that should steal Gus Malzahn away from Auburn, but the truth of the matter is the Auburn nation gave a collective meh at the announcement of his hiring. Sometimes, the conservative hire works out. Ask Pat Dye. And so far, so good with Coach Malzahn.
Enter Bruce Allan Pearl. With Pearl, Jay Jacobs went completely out of character and shocked the basket ball world by plucking the biggest and best name available. Out of the blue, Jacobs offered the job to the "Splash hire"....and equally as surprising....Pearl said "Yes". We may never know the real answer to why a coach as successful as Pearl would take on a seemingly impossible task. Sign on to take charge of a program with a history of futility like very few in D-1 basketball. Just how big a task? Well, the wiki's may be your friend but they don't paint a very pretty picture.
Young whippersnappers may perceive the state of Auburn's downtrodden program as the result of a couple of bad hires over the last 10 years. It goes back just a few more years than that. Let's wiki.
Tony Barbee exited Auburn with a 49-75 overall record and an abysmal 18-50 conference slate. Obviously, there were no post season appearances and his tenure was marred by a consistent exodus of players and a point shaving scandal.
Jeff Lebo guided the Tigers from 2004 to 2010 and amassed a stellar 35-61 conference record with one, lone NIT bid. Lebo also suffered a yearly purge of what little talent he recruited to the Plains.
Prior to Coach Lebo, Cliff Ellis coached Auburn for 10 years. Coach Ellis would have to be considered one of the more successful coaches in Auburn history, leading one of his squads to a brief stay in the #1 position. His teams did make the NCAA tourney 3 times in 10 years but otherwise, it was a string of quick exits from the NIT and Ellis left Auburn with a 73-87 conference tally.
The previous 5 years saw Coach Tommy Joe Eagles at the helm. In what has really been more the norm than the exception, none of his teams sniffed the NCAA tournament and he finished at Auburn with a 64-78 overall record and 29-55 in the SEC.
Only one coach has ever had more success at Auburn than Sonny Smith. There was a 5 year stretch during his 11 year tenure that his teams made the Big Dance, one of which found Auburn as one of the 8 left standing. Coach Smith brought in quite possibly the only "Household names" in Auburn basketball lore with Charles Barkley and Chuck Person. Still, after the dust had settled on his career, he finished 30 games under .500 in conference play.
Take note, whippersnappers. That's covering almost 40 years of Auburn basketball. In fact, if the wiki's speak the truth, you have to go all the way back to 1963, when Joel Eaves stepped down, to find the ONE coach in Auburn basketball history with a winning conference record. So I ask again, why would one of the most prominent men in the coaching profession say, "Yeah, that looks like the job for me."?
I'm sure Coach Pearl has his reasons and the collective Auburn nation is damn glad he does. So, we know the sordid history of Auburn basketball. The questions are, can it be changed and what does Bruce Pearl bring to the table to try and change it? That's where things get interesting.
Excitement/Enthusiasm: Coach Pearl has already energized a moribund fan base with an excitement that immediately makes you want to jump on board. An infectious personality shows through in TV appearances and mini pep rallies around the Auburn campus and gives a sense that there is no way this man is not going to accomplish exactly what he sets out to do. And you'd better come with him or you're going to miss something special.
Work Ethic: Just ask the players. Pearl came in and immediately changed the attitude and the culture, implementing gut-wrenching, pre-dawn workouts complete with puke pails at the ready. Numerous comments from the players confirm they already know there's a new Sheriff in town and they like the direction he's taking them in.
Resume: If Bruce Pearl's coaching career doesn't give Auburn fans cause for hope, then there is none. Coach Pearl had 3 stops prior to landing at Auburn, one of which included his ill-fated run-in with the NCAA at Tennessee. He began his career coaching for 9 seasons at Division II Southern Indiana amassing an unbelievable 231-46 overall record while going 148-28 in conference. He then moved on to Milwaukee where he spent 4 seasons. During that time, he was 86-38 and 51-13 in conference with 2 trips to the NCAA tourney and 1 NIT bid.
Then, it was on to the SEC where he coached the Tennessee Vols to 145 more wins, 65 of those in conference and an incredible record of Big Dance invites in all 6 of his years spent in Knoxville.
Let's cut to the chase. If Bruce Pearl can't win at Auburn...if he can't change the course of the sad history this program has endured...they need to burn the arena down and erect a parking deck. It appears he's already set that change in motion, not only by energizing the fan base and changing the culture in the locker room, but by immediately getting what this program has sorely lacked for eons. Talent! Despite the history, basketball is the one sport where a team can do a 180 by changing only a piece or two of the puzzle and Pearl has already put one of those pieces in place by signing one of the top power forwards in the country.
The bottom line is this looks to be Auburn's one chance to finally get it right and put Auburn basketball on the map once and for all. The Bruce is loose.
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