Butch Thompson and Bruce Pearl, True Auburn Men

Bruce Pearl and Butch Thompson both took their teams to the highest level of competition in their respective sports and did it in extremely similar fashion like true Auburn men.

Bruce Pearl faced the beginning of this last basketball season with uncertainty. Preseason polls ranked Auburn number 11, but forward Anfernee McLemore was returning from a torn ACL, Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy were coming off the bench after sitting out a year from NCAA sanctions, and J’von McCormick was added into the mix.

With the help of veteran leadership in talented seniors Malik Dunbar, Horace Spencer, and Bryce Brown and NBA caliber talents like Jared Harper and Chuma Okeke, Bruce Pearl and his Auburn team overcame adversity to finish 30-10 defying all odds and making it all the way to the Final Four.

The team played for more than themselves, they played for hard-earned respect, they played for community, and they played for their brother Chuma after he went down in the Sweet Sixteen with a torn ACL. Bruce Pearl’s team played into the hearts of the entire college basketball world.

I sat in the Minneapolis Airport by baggage claim and was approached by a stranger who told me “what that Bruce Pearl has done for your basketball squad is truly a miracle, your school is very lucky to have him.” With all the negativity that surrounded Bruce Pearl at that time the affirmation was astounding to me and that stranger was right. Good coaches coach with what they are given and can take any team they are given to the highest level of competition.

Auburn baseball coach Butch Thompson is very similar.

Baseball was ranked number 19 in preseason rankings but was quickly plagued by a melee of injuries in the bullpen. It started with starting pitcher Davis Daniel’s injury in the season opener that eventually led to season ending Tommy John surgery and Butch Thompson soon relied on the arms of Tanner Burns and Jack Owen who both suffered shoulder soreness for the majority of the season.

The Tigers went 14-16 in conference play but went on an absolute tear in the postseason clinching the Atlanta regional and Chapel Hill Super Regional and advancing to Omaha for the first time since 1997.

And these Tigers played for more than themselves as well. The Tigers first took the field in the Atlanta regional just 6 days after losing radio announcer Rod Bramblett in a tragic car accident on May 25th.

These coaches have been in situations where their teams could’ve completely crumbled, but they didn’t buckle under pressure. Bruce Pearl and Butch Thompson have stared down adversity in the face time and time again and have come out on top like true Auburn men.

I look forward to what these men will do every season. War eagle.