Former Auburn and Tennessee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl’s recent and sudden retirement doesn’t mean he’s done with the sport entirely. While he won’t be on the sideline anymore, he will be involved from a media perspective. On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that Pearl will join a studio crew at TNT for Big East, Big 12 and NCAA Tournament coverage.
Pearl will join a team of Jalen Rose, Jamal Mashburn, Adam Lefkoe and occasionally Chris Webber in the studio. The coverage will come during the breaks of Big East and Big 12 action, but a surrounding look at the sport is likely. This means Pearl may give his thoughts on both his former schools, the Tigers and Vols. Tennessee is also taking part in the Players Era Men’s Championship, which airs on TNT.
“I’ve long admired and deeply respected the way TNT Sports delivers the best studio shows in the industry, along with the way they treat everyone as family, and I could not be more excited to join the amazing team they’ve assembled to cover college basketball,” Pearl said in a statement. “The product has never been in better shape on the court and I’m going to bring the same passion I displayed as a coach to broadcasting. I can’t wait for the start of the season.”
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Pearl had led Auburn to its greatest run in the program’s history. In 11 seasons as head coach, Pearl steered Auburn to a combined four SEC Regular-Season and Tournament Championships with two trips to the Final Four. Ironically, Pearl has made it out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament just twice at Auburn, but the Tigers made the Final Four each time.
The 2024-25 season was a banner year for the Tigers, with Auburn winning the SEC Regular-Season Championship before falling to Florida in the National Semifinal.
Pearl was the head coach at Tennessee for six seasons. In that time, he accumulated a record of 145-61 and 65-31 in SEC play. His 2010 team was the first Vols squad to ever reach the Elite Eight. However, since then, Rick Barnes has led a team to that round in each of the past two seasons.
Pearl was fired at Tennessee after NCAA recruiting violations surfaced and heavy penalties were imposed. Pearl finished his Auburn career with a 9-8 record against Tennessee, with the two teams splitting the last eight matchups and both meetings last season.
Taking over Auburn for Pearl is his son, Steven Pearl. He was a former player at UT, as well.
