Auburn Tigers basketball coach Bruce Pearl knows he doesn't have forever to be in charge on the Plains. With eyes on a political career, Pearl is recognizing that he's not going to be coaching for "not that much longer."
Pearl made the predictable, but sad announcement during an appearance on the CBS Sports Inside College Basketball Now podcast with Jon Rothstein.
“Not that much longer,” Pearl said to Rothstein. “I think it’s kind of a balance of life, time and work. I love Auburn. I truly do. Auburn has been incredibly well to us and our family.”
Pearl has already outsourced many of his duties to his son, Steven, and Mike Burgomaster.
“Listen, new concept now. Steven’s my defensive coordinator and Mike Burgomaster is my offensive coordinator. I’m getting a little bit older. I can still game plan, like I’ve always been able to teach and things like that, (but) it doesn’t work quite as fast as it used to work. So I’ve got great coordinators helping me coach my team. It’s a new concept and I think it’s something other coaches should look at," Pearl said.
The Athletic's Joe Rexrode has already made it clear that Steven Pearl is Bruce's likely successor in East Central Alabama.
"And though nepotism naturally invites questions about the competence of the person with access to a coveted situation simply through blood ties, the questions have changed over the course of the best stretch in Auburn men’s basketball history," Rexrode wrote. "As the No. 1 overall seed Tigers prepare to take on No. 5 seed Michigan in the South Regional semifinals on Friday in Atlanta, then perhaps No. 2 seed Michigan State or No. 6 seed Ole Miss with a trip to the Final Four on the line, they go like this:
"How much of this program’s success can be traced specifically to the work of Steven Pearl?
"Should he be the one to take it over when his 65-year-old father eventually decides to retire?
"There’s no coach-in-waiting designation from Auburn at this point, but it’s possible the Pearls could be like the Meyers, the Bennetts, the Drews and others in being granted a father-to-son succession plan. Once Vito Corleone had to relent and let Michael run the family business, he put him in the best possible spot to succeed."
There's a plan in place at the moment that takes the load off Bruce and puts a good bit of it on his son. And more importantly for Bruce, there are issues in this world he feels need his attention more than college basketball.
Bruce built Auburn basketball into what it is today. But in a tomorrow that's not that far away, his son will take over as he's representing the state of Alabama in the U.S. Senate.