Steven Pearl might have been part of the staff when his father, Bruce, put together Auburn’s basketball roster last season, but it was the younger Pearl who had to end up coaching it following his father’s sudden retirement.
Now, after a season in which the Tigers won the NIT but missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years, Pearl has a chance to put together his own pieces to form a team capable of challenging for titles, something that was missing last season.
"I was incredibly grateful and thankful to all the guys we had on last year's team, but I think I realized the pieces I really needed in order for us to be successful," Pearl said. "We tried to go out there in the portal and find those guys."
Only Tahaad Pettiford and Kevin Overton return as key players in last year’s rotation, and if his shooting improves, Blake Muschalek should get some playing time after earning 5.5 minutes last year. More importantly, Pearl went out and grabbed some much-needed size after seeing his frontcourt continually get beat up in the paint last season.
Auburn will have a much bigger and experienced roster this upcoming season
The Tigers have signed 7-foot-1 Bukky Oboye (Santa Clara), 7-foot Narcisse Ngoy (France), 6-foot-10 Owen Freeman (Creighton), 6-foot-8 Thomas Dowd (Troy) and 6-foot-8 Adam Olsen (South Alabama, curing that problem. They have also signed experienced players from the transfer portal. Those were two of Pearl’s goals this offseason.
"Get bigger, get a little older," Pearl said. "We were really young this past season, and I think that really showed in certain situations."
And, after a season as the head coach and learning by being thrown into the fire, Pearl says his biggest lesson was something he can use for the 2026-27 season.
"The biggest thing I learned was how I wanted to piece together my team for this next season," he said.
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