Auburn assistant basketball coach Steven Pearl truly was trying to honor his father Bruce Pearl's impact on SEC hoops, but there's simply no way to take his statement that Nate Oats only got his job because of Bruce as anything other than good old fashion rivalry week mind games.
Steven made the comment earlier in the week on the Stingray Show on Tide 100.9.
“I don’t think Alabama goes and hires Nate Oats if Bruce Pearl isn’t at Auburn,” Steven Pearl said, per Saturday Down South. “That’s not throwing shade on anyone. I just think that what Coach (Pearl) has been able to do at Auburn has raised the level of expectations at other schools in this league. They said, ‘Listen if Auburn can do it, we can do it at a high level too if we get the right person like Auburn did.’ Alabama got the right person. Nate Oats is one of the best coaches in the game right now. His stats and accolades back that up. He’s done an unbelievable job and the rivalry has only gotten more intense and only gotten better.”
Because it's rivalry week, it's hard not to see that as shade, even with Steven's "no shade" caveat. The "no shade" was a PR chef's kiss. There's plausible deniability since Bruce has changed SEC hoops from a Kentucky monopoly to a thriving product where winners could come from anywhere -- even football state Alabama.
The Iron Bowl of Basketball, or, in 2025, perhaps simply, the Iron Bowl, is taking the college hoops world's center stage on Saturday. The winner comes away ranked No. 1 in the country. As for the loser? The most painful loss imaginable awaits.
Pearl and Oats understand the implications. This isn't just any "regular" game this season.
There's more bragging rights than ever before. Even before the game from one of the coach's sons.