When Bruce Pearl announced his retirement before the start of this season and his son, Steven Pearl, took over, everyone knew there would be slight changes in how the two coached at Auburn. While both can be boisterous on the sidelines, no father and son are going to be exactly alike.
Following the Tigers' 84-73 victory over Oregon in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, Auburn star point guard Tahaad Pettiford discussed the differences between the two head coaches.
"Steven is just a different type of person," Pettiford said per AuburnUndercover's Nathan King. "Cooler guy, he's younger, he relates to us more. He's somebody we can talk to. He's somebody who understands us more."
While some might see that as a knock on the elder Pearl, it makes sense that Steven Pearl, still only 38 years old, would be able to relate to college-aged kids much more than Bruce, who turned 65 this past March.
And while many Auburn fans were worried about the quality of play declining after Bruce Pearl had led the Tigers to three SEC regular-season titles, two SEC Tournament championships and two Final Fours, the results so far under his son have been excellent, with Auburn's only loss coming to No. 2 Houston by one point last Sunday.
There's still work for the younger Pearl to do, especially on Tuesday night as the Tigers take on No. 7 Michigan in a rematch of last year's Sweet 16 game that saw Auburn make a furious comeback in the second half to beat the Wolverines 78-65. And while the two teams look totally different than what they did in March after so much turnover, the one constant is Pettiford, who scored 20 points in the victory.
No. 21 Auburn and No. 7 Michigan tip off at 7:30 p.m. CT on TNT.