Auburn basketball: Jacqui Pearl shuts down Bruce Pearl-Texas rumors

ESPN’s College Gameday analyst Seth Greenberg opened up pandora’s box when he claimed that Auburn basketball head coach Bruce Pearl would be a viable option for the recently vacated Texas Longhorns HC job.

Truly, it cannot be stated enough that Greenberg was not coming from a place of knowledge, but rather throwing out the name of a head coach from an SEC program he feels isn’t at the level of prestige as Texas.

And that’s just silly. Eric Musselman was named as an option too even though his Razorbacks are playing in the regional final tonight against Baylor for a chance to reach the Final Four. Both Arkansas and Auburn basketball is a step up over the Longhorns job right now.

Texas plays in an increasingly competitive Big 12 that has seen major strides from Baylor, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech in recent years. The program has not produced a bona fide superstar since Kevin Durant, UT hasn’t even gotten past the Round of 32 since 2008.

Why would that be more attractive than the Plains? Pearl has built a rock-solid reputation in the 334, shining as an involved member of the community. Auburn has embraced Pearl as one of their own, even after battling his Tennessee teams for years.

He has made the Tigers nationally relevant and has made Auburn a feeder for the NBA. Isaac Okoro was the #5 pick in the 2020 draft, and Sharife Cooper and JT Thor could both hear their names in the 2021 draft themselves.

He’s not going anywhere…and his daughter Jacqui Pearl has all but confirmed it:

Pearl was responding to a fan that seemed certain Texas was hiring her dad…and potentially having her relocate 10 hours west to a different region of the country.

Let’s have that be the end of any Pearl-Longhorns talk indefinitely.