Paul Finebaum calls Bruce Pearl one of the most impactful hires in history of state of Alabama

For the third straight season Auburn head basketball coach Bruce Pearl has led the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament, this time with an automatic bid after winning the SEC Tournament following a 86-67 win over Florida in the tournament final on Sunday.

Some Auburn fans may be upset with where the Tigers are seeded ahead of March Madness, earning the No. 4 seed in the East Region following their tournament title and 27-7 finish to the season. But SEC host Paul Finebaum believes that overall the focus should more so be on what Pearl has done for the program overall versus Auburn’s draw in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

“Well they shouldn’t, because it was 10 years ago as you guys know that he came here from nowhere frankly,” Finebaum said Monday on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. “Bruce was as far out of the world of college basketball in terms of being a prominent head coach as you could be. I mean he was on ESPN serving out his three-year sentence.”

Pearl had dominant runs as the head coach at Division II Southern Indiana and Milwaukee from the Horizon League before becoming the head coach at Tennessee in 2005. A six-year tenure highlighted by great success and scorned by an eventual firing related to NCAA violations and a three-year show-cause penalty after lying to the NCAA.

In 2014 Auburn hired Pearl to get their program back on track, failing to achieve 20+ wins since the 2008-2009 season and not making an appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2003. And 10 years later the decision has surely paid off.

“But it was a daring hire because a lot of people were against it and I think it turned out to be one, I know there’s another one that’s slightly ahead of it,” Finebaum said referring to Nick Saban. “But one of the most important hires really in the history of the state of Alabama, and I couldn’t help but think about that today as so many people in Alabama are just jumping up and down.”

Pearl has since led the Tigers to five NCAA Tournament appearances, two SEC regular season titles, and their second SEC Tournament Championship.

The last time Auburn took home a conference tournament title the made it to the Final Four, as fans in the state of Alabama have something to be excited about on the court in the month of March yet again.

“I’ve lived years where there were no teams in the NCAA Tournament guys, maybe one. But 21 years ago I remember a time when Alabama upset the number one seed in the tournament and UAB upset Kentucky and that was one of those glorious days in the state’s history. But today may really be, and you’re right, Bruce Pearl did the best job of anyone in getting his program into the tournament,” Finebaum concluded.

This year four teams for the state of Alabama made the NCAA Tournament (Auburn, Alabama, UAB, and Samford). As Pearl and his fellow in-state coaches will look to make some noise during March Madness and represent the Yellowhammer State proudly.