Auburn Tigers basketball coach Bruce Pearl may be dropping not-so-subtle hints that the 2025-26 college hoops season will be his last. It appears Pearl may have his sights set on, to him, bigger and better:
A run to Alabama's junior senator spot, which will soon be vacated by Katie Britt once Tommy Tuberville runs and likely wins the state's gubernatorial race.
First, Pearl said of his son, Steven, taking over the program and following in his footsteps, “He’s ready."
“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.
Then, Pearl wrote an op-ed for AL.com that may as well have been a mission statement for his future campaign.
In it, Pearl made it clear that he'll be closely aligning with Britt's foreign policy on unconditional support of an Israeli government that's been popularly solely amongst neoconservative voices -- the bulk of Alabama's voting block.
"I am sometimes challenged for my passionate support for the state of Israel. I will never waver. I recognize that if Israel falls to the radicalized form of Islam promoted by Iran and its proxies like Hamas, America will be next on their list. We must all come to grips with the fact that the entire Western world is under attack. Senator Katie Britt understands this, and every Alabamian and every American should rally behind her. The Senator knows that a rise in antisemitism is like the canary in the coal mine—an early warning sign of impending danger in the social fabric. Antisemitism is a sign that hatred and bigotry are on the rise, not just toward Jews but toward everyone," Pearl wrote.
It doesn't take much to see what's going on.
Bruce is preparing to hand the program off to Steven, who's more than capable of bringing it to new heights, having been there and done that in the second-in-command role.
Then, he'll easily win a Senate seat like Britt and Tuberville did before him.
After all, an Auburn Tigers head coach has already proven capable of swaying constituents in his favor with Tuberville's historic 2020 victory.
Of note: Bruce had a more transformative run as head basketball coach than Tuberville did on the gridiron. His exit won't be nearly as controversial, either.
Not to Tiger fans, anyway.
Anti-interventionists the world over might sing a different tune at Pearl's pro-Israel ambitions.