Paul Finebaum places Bruce Pearl on Auburn's Mount Rushmore of coaches

Bruce Pearl has already staked his claim as the best basketball coach in Auburn history, but Paul Finebaum believes he has a case one of the the best coaches in program history regardless of sport.

This season, Pearl became the winningest coach in program history after notching his 214th victory with the Tigers. He is also the only coach ever to take them to a Final Four and has won two SEC Tournament titles, including the most recent one.

Speaking on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, Finebaum explained why he would put Pearl on Auburn’s Mount Rushmore of coaches.

“I think he would be on the Mount Rushmore, which means there’s only three other spots,” the SEC Network talking head said. “I think the fact that he’s done it in basketball is remarkable. …I think the Bruce Pearl story is even more remarkable because of the circumstances. Exactly 10 years ago when he arrived there, it was a close call. It was no slam dunk that he would even get the job because he had to get personal sign off from the commissioner of the SEC at the time, Mike Slive, who was still angry with him for lying five years earlier in what should have been a three-game suspension at Tennessee and ended up in a firing a three-year show cause.

“So that’s how out Bruce Pearl was, and a little known figure in Auburn history, and that’s (former athletic director) Jay Jacobs, who was put out a couple of years ago for others, but really is the reason that Bruce Pearl got that job. It was Jay Jacobs that had a relationship with the commissioner that helped. They were very tight and Jacobs went to Slive and said, ‘Listen, we need sign off on this’ and finally the commisioner gave it.”

Pearl has been a head coach since the 2001-02 season at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he would quickly garner national attention after leading the Panthers to the Sweet Sixteen in his fourth season. That allowed him to get offered the job at Tennessee, where he spent the next six seasons and led the Vols to an NCAA Tournament appearance every year.

He is now in his 11th season at Auburn, meaning he has spent more time at this program than his previous two stops combined. The Tigers are off to an impressive 18-1 start this year and currently rank as the No. 1 team in the country.

As much as Pearl has already accomplished, a national championship is still on his radar. Given how strong Auburn has looked this year, however, he might have a chance to finally get it.

If he does, there would be no question that he belongs on the school’s Mount Rushmore.