CBS Sports' Matt Norlander sounded a little too excited about the possibility of Bruce Pearl leaving Auburn in the offseason to take the vacant Ohio State head coaching job Chris Holtmann's firing opened up; waxing poetic about the possibility of Buckeye Nation bringing Bruce to Columbus in the offseason.
"At 63, I believe that IF Pearl is going to take one more move, it will be this year or next," Norlander wrote. "Likelihood? I'd go under 50% for this year as of March 6, but a lot changes in this month. Ohio State should put Pearl on its list of targets. He is built to build up programs and has coached winners (and made a Final Four) twice in the SEC. His force of personality is matched maybe — maybe — by five other coaches in the game. He's won big at a football-first institution before (Tennessee) and turned Auburn into a near-annual Top 25 program. So long as Ohio State's power brokers are good with having a big-name coach bringing in a lot of attention, Pearl's got the wins (670 of them) and charisma to inject a lot of hope into a top-25 job in the sport."
Pearl, despite being less than 20 wins away from the all-time coaching record for wins at Auburn, is being linked to multiple Big Ten teams ahead of the 2024 SEC Tournament.
Bruce Pearl would take Indiana job 'today without any reservation,' says analyst
Mid-Major Madness's Jordan Majewiski had supposed intel indicating that Bruce Pearl would take the Indiana job, in the event Mike Woodson's dismissal led to it being open, "without any reservation."
"Oodles of Bruce Pearl chatter around (Indiana) from very informed sources," Majewski wrote before saying in a separate tweet, "He would take it today without reservation from what I understand."
"Well from the IU side, they seem to know for a fact he’ll take the job, just one person needs to sign off on it. There’s a reason the Woody buyout clause is leaking. It’s very real and will happen if one key person signs off (and it’s not Scott Dolson)," Majewski would later add.
Pearl leaving doesn't feel like a real possibility to anyone on the Plains but it should be noted that Auburn's 2024 recruiting class is currently sitting outside the top 25 right now. As much as AU has grown over the years on the hardwood, they may not be willing to play ball in hoops with NIL like more well established basketball programs to the north.