Steven Pearl was introduced as the 22nd head men's basketball coach in program history on Wednesday, following in the footsteps of his father, Bruce, who resigned on Monday after 11 years at the helm of the Tigers.
Here's what the 38-year-old, first-time head coach had to say.
Opening remarks…
“There’s only one way to get this thing started. War Eagle! Thank you all for being here this morning. I want to start by thanking our president, Dr. Chris Roberts; our athletics director, John Cohen, our sport administrator, Djenane Paul, the rest of John’s executive staff and the Board of Trustees, for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be the head coach of this prestigious program. It’s an honor to lead this university and this program into the next chapter of Auburn basketball. I’ve been preparing for this moment my entire life. For the last 16 years, I’ve been in every aspect that is college basketball. I played at the University of Tennessee – not very well, but I did play – as a player, a student-athlete. And then I started my journey here at Auburn in 2014. I started out as an assistant strength coach under Damon Davis, worked my way up to director of basketball operations. Was then promoted to assistant coach, was promoted to associate head coach and defensive coordinator. That journey has shaped how I lead, how I listen and how I build. It’s given me a front-row seat to the principles of what has made this program so successful. And that perspective, I plan to carry them forward with purpose.
“I fully understand the responsibility. I embrace it with gratitude, humility and resolve. I know it comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility. It’s a different level of expectation, and it’s a gold standard that Bruce Pearl has brought to this fine institution, this fine basketball program. It’s given me a front-row seat and it’s given me the perspective I need to carry forward. I will go to work every single day with the focus and determination to reward you all for allowing me the opportunity of a lifetime to lead this program. I’m here to rise to the moment.
“There’s going to be a lot of thank-yous, so bear with me. I would not be sitting here if it were not for so many people, in and out of this room. I want to start by thanking my wife, Brittany. It takes a special woman to be a head coach’s wife, to just be a coach’s wife. It does take an even more special woman to be my wife. Thank you for making my life so easy. Thank you for being my courage when doubt creeps in. Thank you for making the hardest days feel like something we can conquer as long as we’re together. But most importantly, thank you for being Lainey’s mom. I love you, and I can’t wait to continue this journey together. If you think about life’s greatest moments, what’s made them more special? It’s when you share them with family, it’s when you share them with close friends. I’m fortunate that I have my family in this room today. It’s made this moment for me that much more special, and it’s one I’ll never forget. But I’m not only blessed with an incredible family. I have such an unbelievable network of friends, mentors – a lot of those are sitting in this room right now. In the 11 years I’ve been at Auburn, I’ve been so blessed to create so many new friendships, so many new people that I look up to, so many new mentors. I love each and every one of you, and I’m so excited that we get to continue this journey together.
“BP. We have literally been together since day one. Literally. You and my beautiful mother, Kim, who made the trip down from Knoxville, I love you very much, mom. Thank you for being here. You welcomed me into the world in Iowa City, Iowa, and I’ve been a coach’s kid ever since. Growing up, I was so lucky and fortunate. Coach’s kids get to do something that not a lot of people get to do. They get to go to work with their dads and do something really fun and really cool. I got to grow up watching him be in his element. I got to grow up in Evansville, Indiana, when he was at the University of Southern Indiana. I would go to Pack Arena with him, and I would watch him with his shirt off - which, I should have known that this was going to be a trend moving forward – lifting with the players in the weight room. Out-bench pressing a lot of his guys. I watched his daily interactions with fans, treating them as if they were family. I watched him take and make phone calls almost daily to just complete strangers. Cancer patients. Offering them encouragement and trying to give them another reason to fight. Or people just going through any sort of hardship, just to love on them a little bit. I watched him be involved in every aspect of his program, no matter how small the detail or how small the impact. I remember when we were at Milwaukee, very early in his tenure there, we left the Klotsche Center and went over to the student cafeteria. I had no idea what we were doing. I’m like, all right, maybe we’re going to have lunch. I walk in the building, and this lunatic gets up on a lunch table and starts screaming at the students, encouraging them to come to the Klotsche Center to watch a basketball game. And obviously, famously, at Tennessee when he showed up with his shirt off and his chest painted for Coach (Pat) Summitt and the Lady Vols. I saw Coach (Larry) Vickers here, don’t get any ideas, brother, that ain’t happening. At the time, I thought this was normal. I thought this was what every head coach did. I thought this was the norm. I thought this was the standard. But quickly after getting into this profession, I realized something really quickly. It’s what has made him special. It’s what’s made him unique. And like John said, it’s what’s made him a Hall-of-Famer. It’s made you one of the best basketball coaches in the history of this game. The five years I played for you, the 11 years I’ve been under your wing, have been some of the best years of my life. We won 367 games together, 18 of those being in the NCAA Tournament. We’ve won seven SEC Championships and we’ve been to two Final Fours together. I can put a number on those accomplishments, but I can’t begin to quantify what I’ve learned from you to prepare me for this moment. I love you and thank you.
“While today is technically a news conference welcoming me as your head coach, I want to encourage the Auburn Family and the people in this room – that’s not how this should be looked at. The Auburn Family today should be celebrating the retention of this staff right here. This staff has been with BP for a very long time. And this staff is a big reason why this program has reached unprecedented heights. I recognize following the greatest coach in Auburn basketball history, a coach who’s dominated this league for the last eight years, is a daunting task. But what gives me tremendous confidence is those men right over there. This staff is one that BP has empowered. It’s one that he’s entrusted, and it’s one that has their fingerprints all over the success of this program. BP has said for a long time that we have the best staff in college basketball, and he’s 100 percent right. Ira Bowman, my associate head coach. He just found that out, by the way. Ira Bowman is the total package. He is one of the best assistant coaches in all of college basketball, and he is ready to be a head coach. He’s one of the best player development guys in all of the game, he’s a mentor, he’s a father, an unbelievable evaluator of talent, he understands the game, he’s played at the highest level, and he’s one of the most valuable tools any coach can have on their coaching staff. Mike Burgomaster, one of the best offensive minds in college basketball, has run our offense for the last couple of years. A young and growing talent. Another guy who’s paid his dues. Started as a student manager at Miami, a graduate assistant for us, I think he’s had six different titles over the years. Assistant to the head coach, and now an assistant coach. He’s going to be someone I’m really going to lean on on the offensive end, and a future star in this business. Corey Williams, an unbelievable man. One of the best men you will ever meet. Not just in this profession but in this world. His relationships with his players, his relationships with the staff, his ability to retain players, he’s one of the best in the country at that. Not enough credit goes to that man on this staff for everything that he does for the success of this program. I just have so much love for Coach Williams. Ian Borders, so happy for Ian. Was elevated to an assistant coach this past year. One of the hardest workers on our staff. A guy that’s just a go-getter. A guy that’s going to be relentless – sometimes annoying, but relentless. And he is going to be one of our better recruiters. He’s one of our better basketball minds. He’s not going to be here very long, I’m just telling you. He’s an unbelievable asset to this program, and he paid his dues and he waited his time, and it’s paid off for him. Matt Gatens, found out yesterday that he was elevated to assistant coach. He is back on the floor, and he is back out on the road recruiting. So happy for him and Erin. He came here back in 2018 as a graduate assistant, did an unbelievable job, and then was able to go out and be an assistant coach at Drake, and then be Fran (McCaffrey)’s number two guy at Iowa. He brings a tremendous amount of experience to this staff, and I call him one of my very good friends, and I’m very blessed that he’s back with our program. Marquis Daniels is a 10-year NBA veteran, a guy that our players confide in. A guy that our players trust. And a guy that just brings a different level of experience. Because he’s been in their shoes before. He’s played at Auburn. He’s played in the league for 10 years, a place they all want to get to. That’s just an unbelievable asset to have in our program. And he’s really picked it up over the last couple of years. He’s a guy I’ll continue to lean on, I’ll continue to trust, and a guy that’s going to continue to get the best out of our guys. Damon Davis, one of other guys that’s been here since day one. One of the best strength coaches in college basketball. Always has our guys in shape and ready to go. He’s become a great friend of mine and my family, and obviously a tremendous asset to our program. Clark Pearson does as good a job as anyone keeping our guys healthy and on the floor. Maddux Jeffries has one of the most thankless jobs in college basketball as our director of ops. The food’s not good enough, the hotel pillows suck, who knows. He wears it and he loves it. He’s going to be a great coach one day, and I appreciate Maddux and his friendship and his organization and everything he does for our program. And down the line, Bridget Graba, our assistant who keeps our lives in order. Stephen Leonard and Mo Mills, our creative team. We have one of the best creative teams in all of college basketball. Not just in college basketball, but our athletics department. And you guys saw the videos yesterday. They did that in a day. Who’s able to do stuff like that and deliver it so beautifully? Stephen and Mo are a big part of that team. Jeremy Napier, our team chaplain, a great resource for our players to deliver the word and be a mentor to them. Emily Daniels, our team nutritionist, she takes her job and loves her job as much as any nutritionist we’ve had on our staff. I just love the job that she does for our players. Kevin Fuhrer, another thankless job, he gets yelled at so much for not giving our guys enough socks, but he does a phenomenal job. He works his tail off and obviously really happy he’s on our staff. Dr. Regina Johnson and Courtney Gage in our academic center. We’ve graduated between 48 and 51 guys. We consistently have a 3.0 team GPA. We consistently have a 1000 APR. And that’s one of the most important things that doesn’t get talked about enough, the commitment to academic success in this program. And it would be impossible without you guys back there, and thank you all so much for your efforts and your diligence with these young men. Our graduate assistants – Reagan, Will, Jack, Jay – and our army of managers. You guys make this thing run, and we appreciate everything you guys do for us. Tigers Unlimited, On to Victory, external affairs team, student-athlete support units, and even our local media. Thank you guys for the job you do. You make this program what it’s been and what it’s going to continue to be.
“To our current players: I had a really tough time putting this part of the speech together. Because there’s so much that needs to be said. And anything I do say, I’m going to fall short, and I apologize for that. But I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for me over the last 48 hours. Not just the summer, but the last two days has been taxing. It’s been difficult. It hasn’t been easy. And I can’t thank you enough for how you’ve handled everything. You all came here to play for BP and this staff. Not just this staff. The positive responses we’ve gotten from each and every one of you, and your unwavering commitment to this team, this university and this program, have been nothing short of incredible. It speaks to your character. It speaks to what we saw in the recruiting process and the young men that you are and what we know you’re going to be. We were all rattled on Monday. Me especially. Because some of your reactions. We were surprised. Abdul Bashir walked out into the hallway and just gave me a hug. He said, ‘I’m with you, Coach. I love you.’ KO (Kevin Overton), same thing. K-Mag (Kaden Magwood), same thing. I needed that in that moment, so thank you. It’s immediate validation for why we knew you were such special young men and student-athletes. I can’t thank you enough for your resilience, your trust and your loyalty to Auburn. At a time in college athletics where those three things are few and far between, the world can learn a lot from the men in our locker room. And I’m proud of that. I can promise each and every one of you that I will go to work every day, every second, to reward you for your decision to stay loyal to this staff and to this program. Thank you.
“To our players’ parents: when a parent sends their son to come play at Auburn, they’re entrusting the head coach, the staff and the university to take care of their child and help them reach their potential on and off the floor. None of them were expecting this news, and none of them were expecting the phone call they received Monday from me and BP. But every single one of them handled it with class and with respect. Thank you for trusting me and this staff with your sons to finish the job that we were entrusted in the recruiting process. I fully understand the enormous responsibility that lies in the hands of the head coach. Nothing changes. Nothing changes. Our commitment off the court to make sure your sons graduate and help them grow into men is our top focus and our top priority. And of course, on the floor we will continue to work with them to sharpen the potential that we saw to not only help them win championships for Auburn, but to make it to that next level. Thank you for your understanding, and thank you for your support.
“During the last 48 hours, I’ve received a ton of phone calls. I have over 1,000 messages on my phone. And for those of you watching online, if I haven’t texted you back, I promise I’m not ghosting you. For those in this room I haven’t responded to, I promise I’m not ghosting you. I’m going to get back to every single one of you. I’m going to try to do so today and tomorrow. But I’ve received a ton of calls from former players. It’s been really cool to talk to those guys, to kind of relive some of the memories that they had here at Auburn University. Some guys I expected, some guys I didn’t expect at all. Mustafa Heron reached out to me. Mustafa Heron, as a lot of you know, was here in our early days at Auburn and transferred out to St. John’s. I told Mustafa, this is forever home to him. Forever. He broke down on the phone and told me that he loved us and this staff. Samir Doughty and Walker Kessler and Jabari Smith and Charles Barkley, guys reaching out left and right. I’m not sitting up here if it were not for the sacrifices and the buy-in from every player that’s been here over the last 11 years. I hope they take this moment as a celebration of the accomplishments they had while they were at Auburn. As we move forward, it’s important that each of you understand that this is home. This is your family, and we want you to help continuing what you built here. I can only hope that I made you better during your time here because you made me better as a coach, so thank you.
“Before we talk about where we’re going, let’s first share how I see the foundation we’re building on. There’s a famous saying, excuse my English, but ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ I’d be a fool if I were to change things just for the sake of changing, just to prove to people that I’m not BP. The truth is, so many of the principles and the practices that we’ve built this program on over the last 11 years are things that all of us have had our hands on every single day on this staff to have the success we’ve had over the last 11 years. When it comes to academic expectations, character assessments, team-building, servant leadership, recruiting philosophy, player development, offensive and defensive game-planning, you’re going to see a lot of the same things you’ve seen over the last 11 years that has guided us because they’ve delivered results. If I had to point to one thing, maybe, I probably won’t be as active on Twitter as BP. Dr. Roberts, John, Jamie, you’re welcome. I’m already winning the press conference, this is great. I’m already 1-0, let’s go.
“I often get asked what makes Auburn so special. The answer is simple. It’s the people. It’s the people in this room. It’s the people in this community. The Auburn Family is a real thing. It starts with our leadership. The leadership of this university who are constantly finding ways to have made this the best institution in the country. To the faculty who are educating some of the best and brightest minds in the world today. To many of our coaches who are here right now, and our student-athletes who compete at the highest level day in and day out. To the students who have created the best home-court advantage in all of college basketball in The Jungle. To our donors, alumni, and local community, who not only pour their support and their love but their resources in making sure this university and this athletic department stays at the highest level. That’s what makes Auburn the ‘Loveliest Village on the Plains’. I started my coaching career here, I asked my beautiful wife to marry me here, our daughter Lainey was born here, and I was blessed to land my dream job here. To everyone watching and everyone in this room, I give you my word that I will pour every ounce of my being into every facet of this program to help sustain and build on the success that we have accomplished together. Thank you guys, and War Eagle.”
“Yeah, like I said, I’ve been prepared for this moment my entire life. Being under BP as his son, as a player and as his coach, I’ve been able to watch him and the things that he does that helps build programs and sustain success. So, there is really no better way for me to learn how to do it than to watch him do it every single day. Obviously, if I come in elsewhere and cut my teeth, I’m sure I could have had one of those experiences, but he entrusts and empowers his staff and he relies on his staff so much that we’re doing things that a lot of head coaches are being trusted to do every single day already. So again, a lot of experience just in our day-to-day. Over the last couple summers, he’s allowed us as a staff to kind of run things in practice to gain some extra experience. It has been really important. It’s been really helpful and it’s really helped us all grow in our journey to move up the ladder to eventually be head coaches.”
On his expectations for how a Steven Pearl team will play…
“That's a great question. Let's talk about what our philosophies are going to be. Offensively, we're going to be a team that is going to try to be elite in multiple areas. We want to be elite in transition offense. We want to limit our turnovers. We want to make the simple pass so that we don't give easy opportunities down at the other end. We want to be a great offensive rebound team. We want to be unselfish. We want to make free throws. Those are five things that have really been important for this program offensively. As you know, and as some of you probably don't love, we let our players have a tremendous amount of freedom on the offensive end. They take what some of you might call ‘bad shots,’ but we need our players to have that confidence that we trust them to shoot those shots. That gives them the ability to play their game. As long as they hold up their end of the bargain on the defensive end. Defensively, we have got to be elite in transition defense. We have to be elite rebounding, and we have to be elite finishing possessions. Those are non-negotiables. That is something that our guys all understand, and it's what's led us to have the success that we have had on the defensive-end over the last four years. Three out of the last four years, we have had a top-10 defensive team in the country. There are just so many different areas that we have really thrived in and kind of built this thing on. This year's team is going to look a little different because our offense right now is ahead of our defense. We're going to be a team that is going to play really fast. That's going to get the ball up and down the floor, going to take some crazy shots. But we're not as big or as thick as we were a year ago, so we're going to play faster. We're going to try to force more turnovers, and it's going to require a tremendous amount of communication from our guys because we do a lot of switching. We change up our defense from time to time, and it's going to require our guys to be in-sync with each other and be on the same page. A lot of the things that you have seen over the last 11 years are a lot of the same things that we are going to continue to do on the floor. But for us, my expectation is that we have to get better every single week. That's been our messaging all summer. With a group of 10 new guys, that's really all you can ask for at this point. This is a team that is going to continue to get better week by week. We're going to get kicked in the face a few times early in the season because of the schedule. It's interesting that Mike Burgomaster didn't show up today because I was going to give him some hell about the schedule he laid out for us this year. It's going to do an unbelievable job at getting us ready for our conference play, but we're going to go through some adversity early. We are playing some really good teams. But as long as this team continues to learn from those experiences, continues to grow, this is a team that can beat anyone on our schedule. I’m just really excited to continue the work that we have put in so far and continue to get better.”
“We walked in the first day, and we walked into the film room, and I looked at BP and was like, ‘Are these the managers?’ KT Harrell is our only Division I player on the roster. It was a depleted roster. It was a roster that had been beaten into the ground. They were just looking to do anything possible to win. That team won 15 games that year and made a run to the SEC (Tournament) semifinals. Probably our least talented team since we have been here, but a team that hung on every word that we said and was excited about the opportunity to play for a coach that was going to bring fire and life into them. That first year, we really found out what the foundation of this place was and how special this place was because our fans poured into a group that wasn’t necessarily delivering the results on the floor. They were working their ass off to get there. We knew that if we could bring in teams that could win some games, win some championships and get us back to the tournament, we knew our support would follow. To watch that growth from year one to year 11 - can anyone in this room imagine what the last couple of years would look like in that arena? No. What I hear so often is that it’s impossible to get a ticket to home games. ‘We have to go follow you to Tuscaloosa, to Oxford, Athens, Birmingham or Atlanta just to watch the Tigers play.’ That’s something that we have to continue. We have to keep going, and that’s what the Auburn Family continues to do because these kids came here because of that support. It’s something that if we continue to have, our team can do some special things.
On financial resources being available to build a roster…
“Auburn has poured in a tremendous amount of resources to help this program be successful. We can speak to the NIL piece really quickly. Auburn has given us everything we need through Tigers Unlimited, On To Victory, Brett Whiteside and his team, and John Cohen has just done an unbelievable job giving us the resources we need. I want to just walk through the last three years and what this program has done in the NIL space. It’s been about player retention. Johni Broome, Dylan Cardwell, Denver Jones and Chaney Johnson are just a few examples of guys who could have left and gotten way more money on the transfer portal market. Every single one of them. They stayed loyal to Auburn because they loved Auburn. They wanted to reward Auburn for the commitments they made to those players in showing up on the road, showing up in neutral games, showing up at the tournament and obviously showing up at home. That’s why we’ve had the success we’ve had. The best players in the portal are the players you already have on your team. That’s what this team has been built on. This year was different. We had to replace 10 guys. John (Cohen) and his team started getting ready a year in advance for this roster and this team. They launched us into the upper half or upper five of our conference in NIL. To put together a roster that is going to be able to compete this year. Through the commitment, the hard work, the time, the hours, the phone calls and the support from the people out there to put this roster together were substantial. It was something that we will forever be grateful for, because without it, we wouldn’t be able to get the special young men that we have in this room today. That’s what makes Auburn special. When you need Auburn to step up, they step up, and they always deliver.”
On his confidence that the roster will stay intact with the transfer window now open…
“Obviously, we’re 48 hours out. Let’s just talk through the realities of what happened on Monday, right? We worked through how we wanted to present it to the players. Obviously, we were disappointed how it got out. We did not intend for it to happen that way. It made an already hard situation even more difficult. I think there’s never going be a perfect transition or a perfect way of doing things. There’s just not. It’s really hard to contain those things, but when it did happen, obviously, the room was heavy. Our players were very understanding though. They understood why. Having one-on-one conversations with each of them and their families have been nothing but really positive, honestly. They have nothing but love for BP and understand and respect his decision. At the end of the day, they understood that the career he’s built and the work that he’s put in, he’s earned the right and the opportunity to step down whenever he wants and the way he wants to. He wants to spend more time with his grandkids. He wants to watch Lainey grow up and play volleyball or whatever she’s going to decide to do. He wants to play more golf. I think he’s going to this afternoon at 3 or 4 o’clock. That’s why he’s not in a suit right now. He wants to spend more time with his family and wants to spend more time at the lake. He wants to stay in Auburn and help this university, help this athletic program and help this basketball program continue to sustain the success we’ve had. Our guys were all at practice yesterday. We had a great practice yesterday, and we’ll have a great practice tomorrow as well. Our players and their parents have all been phenomenal in our conversations. We were very transparent with them. We told them in the very beginning that with this change, you are allowed the opportunity of a 30-day window to explore your options. In the recruiting process, we told our guys our commitment to you is to do what’s best for you and your family. If that’s going somewhere else, we’re going to support you in that endeavor. Do we want you to leave? Absolutely not. We want to keep this thing together. We want to keep this team together because this team should have pieces and the things that we need for them to be successful. It’s going to take a little time, but we’re getting close. I feel like we’re in a good spot right now.”
On hearing from his friend, Florida head coach Todd Golden…
“We talk almost every day, whether it be through text or phone calls. When he found out on Monday, he called and was very excited. I told him, ‘I need a favor, make me look good and write a good quote,’ and he said, ‘I got you.’ He spiced it up and said a lot of really nice things. I told him we’re competitors, but we’re also family. I’m going to lean on him because obviously he’s been through what I’m going through right now. I know he’ll always pick up the phone, except for the week we’re playing them. He probably won’t pick up the phone then when I call and ask about his game plan or some of the play calls they have or what their plan is to stop our guys. But he was obviously thrilled and really excited. He’s been telling me for years that I’m ready for this moment and this opportunity. It’s really special to have a mentor of my same age who has been in this position for five, six years, but it’s not just him. Jake Diebler from Ohio State, Frank Martin who was at (South Carolina), Kelvin Sampson, Rick Barnes, Bill Self, Jon Scheyer, all guys that have reached out to BP or me and said if you need help or any support or have any questions to call us. To have that fraternity of coaches at your disposal, in addition to one of the greatest coaches in college basketball, is an incredible resource and I’d be silly not to take advantage of that. It’s great to have those friends in this business that are ready to help.”
On how much he’ll continue to lean on Bruce Pearl…
“I’m not asking him to come to practice every day. I’m not going to watch film with him every day. There needs to be some separation there. I’m going to ask him to come to practice every once in a while just to bring some additional love and energy into the building. Or if we lose a tough game and our guys need a little pick me up, I’d be crazy not to call him and ask him to come and talk to the guys. I’m sure he’s going to give me his input when our defense isn’t what it needs to be, and I’m sure he’ll call Mike (Burgomaster) when he’s calling all the wrong play calls and tell Mike ‘I would have called this and this.’ When some interesting scenarios pop up throughout the year that I just haven’t experienced yet, sure, I’m going to reach out to him and ask for his support and his advice because I think he can help. And I think I would be, like I said, I’d be a fool not to. Part of it, too, is he needs to enjoy retirement. He needs to enjoy spending time with his family. He needs to enjoy the things he hasn’t been able to do for close to the last 50 years. But when the time’s necessary, I'll reach out to him when I need to.”
On what he learned from Bruce Pearl about the importance of coaching with passion…
“As we all know, he looks like he's going to have a heart attack most of the time on the sideline. One of the things about his passion is that it's contagious, and I think our players feed off it. I think for me as a head coach now, I've got to be a little different in that approach. I think when you're tenured as he is and as successful as he's been, he's earned the right to have that passion. For me, my approach is going to be a little more subtle with our guys and allow our assistants to kind of act like I did last year. I need to be a little more poised in my approach with our guys, but in practice, always going to bring energy, always going to bring that same passion, especially on the defensive end of the floor. It's going to be important for us, but for this new group, a lot of it's got to be led through making mistakes and letting them feel this thing out because we are so new. I've learned that our guys would feed off it, but I also have to be careful with my approach just because I am a new head coach, so I've got to be sensitive to some of those things. Part of it, too, is BP came up in an era where tough coaching was a little more allowed and acceptable. Things have changed and you have to treat them all fairly, but you're going to treat them all differently, if that makes sense. I think our guys all know that and understand that, and I think a lot of healthy balance and passion."
On how surreal it has been getting messages of support from the top coaches in the country…
“I replied back to (Houston) coach (Kelvin) Sampson yesterday. Coach Sampson is someone who I respect as much, if not more than anyone in the profession. He’s set the standard, and he’s set the bar of what all programs look to accomplish. To see words of encouragement, it’s validation, but it’s also motivation for me to keep going and keep building. If guys like that are recognizing the job that we’re doing here at Auburn and our staff is doing, it’s not just a reflection on me, it’s a reflection on this staff when those guys say those things. None of this would be possible without that entire group over there. More than anything, it motivates me to keep getting better, keep growing, keep driving and to not be satisfied with what we’ve done so far."
“The expectations are the expectations. There’s only one way to tackle those and that’s to dive in headfirst. We tell our players all the time, you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. We’ve got to be comfortable with these expectations because they are what they are. The expectation is to win championships, the expectation is to graduate our players and the expectation is to get our guys to the next level. That’s what we’re going to do and that’s what our commitment is to these young men, that’s what our commitment is to this university and that’s what our commitment is to this fan base. We’re not shying away from what it is. We understand what it is. I don’t think a lot of coaches would have been lining up for this job just because following BP was going to be difficult. I know that this staff is the staff that’s capable of doing it. We’re going to dive in headfirst and be really excited about the challenge, and be comfortable in those expectations."
On his philosophy in recruiting and keeping the momentum…
“If you look over the last 11 years, we've had seven top-25 high school recruiting classes. We've had some unbelievable evaluations in the portal, and a lot of those things are going to stay the same. For our young freshmen, we're going to look to find people that can come in and contribute right away. We're fortunate enough that we have three freshmen on our roster right now that can all contribute right away. Incredibly proud of the guys that we've brought in this year and really excited to see what they can grow into. In today's day and age, we've had a lot of success in the transfer portal. You look at two of our last three All-Americans, Walker Kessler and Johni Broome, both products of the portal. Our staff has done a really good job of evaluating and finding guys that fit what we do, offensively and defensively. To fit our program and have a lot of success, we've gone after guys that haven't been overrecruited a lot. A lot of guys we've brought in have been underrecruited. Guys like Denver Jones, Miles Kelly, Samir Doughty, Mailk Dunbar. I could go on and on about guys that were being recruited by mid-major teams in the portal, and they were able to come to Auburn and have unbelievable success. If you look since 2017, every transfer that we've had on our roster to date has won an SEC Championship. It speaks to this staff and their ability to build and construct rosters. If you look at our five SEC Championships, every team has looked so different. Some teams have been elite defensively and just okay offensively. Last year's team had a little bit of both. The year before had a little of both. The (2019) Final Four team was explosive offensively and is going to look like this year's team a lot defensively. Going to give up some points, but we're going to create turnovers, and we're going to get out and go. The fact that we've been able to do it with so many different types of players and types of rosters, it speaks to the eye that all of these guys have for what they know fits what we do so well. We'll continue to do that so we can continue to maintain the success and build on it."
On his takeaway from going to the Final Four last year…
“To be able to go to our second Final Four since 2019 was an incredible experience. To finish out the year last year, we'd kind of gone through a little bit of a tough stretch. We won the SEC Championship with a week left to go in the season and had a few injuries going down to Texas A&M, and we obviously lost a heartbreaker at home to finish out the season. For our team to come together... for Dylan Cardwell to step up in a team meeting and basically say what needed to be said to get our guys to lock in to make one final run; it changed everything and allowed us to win four games against two top 10 teams and a top 25 team in Creighton. It never gets old. You're always amazed and wowed when you walk into that gym and you see how big it is and see your players' reactions, so it was really cool. To get there, and obviously, we've come up short twice, it drives and motivates the staff to do everything we can, day in and day out, to find a way to get back and obviously finish the job. It's incredibly rewarding, but it's incredibly motivating as well. It's something that we've set in our expectations to move forward for the program.”
“BP and I have been having hypothetical conversations for a couple of years now and just when he would specifically hang it up, we weren’t sure when that was going to be. It didn’t become a reality until Sunday because that’s when John (Cohen) pulled me aside and offered the job. BP had set a date with our executive team when he was going to make a decision, and that decision was going to be on Sunday. So, behind the scenes, we were getting ready for two different scenarios so I wasn’t going to let myself get too high or too low. I was just going to stay focused in my process and helping this team continue to grow, continue to get better and continue to build while he was weighing his options. Ultimately on Sunday, when he came in and told John, John then pulled me aside after the fact and made me aware of his decision. That’s when the reality sunk in and was very surreal when that moment happened.
“It was tough at the same time when you walk in and you see the setup with all that he had accomplished in his time, his 11 years here at Auburn. It hits you all at once. Obviously just incredibly proud of who he is as a coach, as a man and, obviously, somebody that I have a tremendous amount of respect for and can’t thank enough for everything he’s done for me and for our family. Yeah, it obviously didn’t set in until John formally offered me the job after Coach had made his decision.”
“That’s why. You’re the best staff in college basketball, that’s why. Like I said, this has nothing to do with me. John hired this staff. Yes, I’m the head basketball coach and I’m going to do everything I can to lead this program in the right direction and we’re going to continue to build on the success that we’ve had, but none of this would be possible had it not been for the men that are standing over there against that wall. None of it. So that’s what gave me tremendous confidence, knowing that we could get this thing done and keep this thing going. That the guys that have had their hands and their fingerprints all over the success of this program standing are right next to me to help me along the way. That’s where my confidence comes from.”
On having Tahaad Pettiford back to help lead a team full of transfers…
“That’s a great question. Tahaad (Pettiford), obviously, has a ton of experience, an understanding of what we’re doing offensively and defensively. Tahaad has a voice that a lot of people will listen to, and he’s going to be a really important figure on this group. He’s had a great summer, continuing to build and grow in ways that are going to help him get to that next level. He has to understand that he’s going to have a target on his back this year. He’s going to be the center of everyone’s scouting report. I know that he’s excited about that opportunity. He’s ready for that opportunity. What an unbelievable opportunity for Tahaad to come into a team where, if you look at this NBA these types of things happen all of the time – players get traded, coaches get let go in the middle of the year, coaches retire – what an unbelievable chance for Tahaad to show how he handles adversity like this. When we as a team are successful, he’s going to benefit so much from it, and he’s going to grow so much from it. I’m so excited to help him in that journey because he’s going to be able to show all of these NBA GMs what he’s really made of. To be able to lead a team of 10 new guys in spite of a hall-of-fame coach stepping down before the season, what a tremendous opportunity for all of our young men to be able to show the world what this team and what this program is capable of. It’s going to be a lot for him, but it’s an opportunity that I know that he can rise to, and I know that he’s going to take advantage of.”