Bruce Pearl reveals how he maintains culture in Auburn program

Bruce Pearl has built something special out of Auburn’s basketball program. In his words, he has done so by building a culture upon the foundation of their university and bringing in talent that personifies and honors that foundation.

In a one-on-one interview with AuburnLive, Pearl discussed his culture down on The Plains. He said that everything that you need to know about what he has built within the four walls of Neville Arena can be found in the words of George Petrie.

“Part of the way that you maintain the culture is by just reading The Auburn Creed,” Pearl said. “Simply do the things God would have us do, praying before your meals, loving on your country, doing the community service, not being jealous of another man’s success. Do I make the other four guys out there better?”

The creed is the starting building block of Pearl’s program. From there, he says you can look at every choice and every addition to their staff and team and see that they fit the bill of those very words which, in the end, should leave no room for judgement by anyone.

“You’ll notice in recruiting? A high mid-major player in Denver Jones out of Conference USA, two junior college players, a Division II player. These guys are humble and they’re hungry. That’s part of our culture,” said Pearl. “They’re so blessed and excited to be at Auburn. And their work ethic is really good.”

“The guys that we returned are really good team players. Then you bring a guy in like Corey Williams,” Pearl continued. “So I’ve got to live with you want to judge me? Judge me by the people I surround myself with. Judge me by my staff, judge me by the character of our players. I’m down with that.”

If that’s what Pearl’s tenure has relied upon, it very obviously must be working. Ahead of his tenth season with the Tigers, he holds a record of 187-111.

However, he has really gotten things rolling over the past six years. In each of those seasons besides the pandemic year, Auburn has won 20+ games in each and 25+ in four of the five. That run also includes several rankings within the Top-10 of the AP Poll and four NCAA Tournament appearances, a place that the program hadn’t been since 2003, with the Tigers only appearance in the Final Four in 2019.

That’s quite the run of success for a program that had been a non-factor since the turn of the century, Still, with all that success, Pearl points only to the words that all Auburn students aim to live by as the reason why he has consistently triumphed with the Tigers.