AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Auburn coach Bruce Pearl announced his retirement Monday less than six months after finishing the Tigers' best season in program history with another trip to the Final Four.
Pearl's 38-year-old son Steven Pearl, who has been on his father's coaching staff for all 11 seasons at Auburn, will take over as coach.
"I just feel when I can’t give 100% it’s time to pass the torch,” Bruce Pearl said in a 14-minute video posted on social media.
Pearl, 65, is the school’s winningest men’s coach and took the Tigers to their only two Final Four appearances. He will move into an ambassador role as an assistant to Auburn's athletic director, and isn't going into politics after rumors had circulated about a potential senate run.
“Many of you know that I thought and prayed about maybe running for United States Senate, maybe to be the next great senator from the state of Alabama," said Pearl, who was a college head coach for over 30 seasons with four schools. "That would have required leaving Auburn, and instead the university has given me the opportunity to stay here and be Auburn’s senator. I need to focus now on being a great husband, being a great father, being the best grandfather I possibly can be."
Pearl advanced the Tigers to their first Final Four in 2019, defeating Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky in successive games. They lost to eventual-champion Virginia by one point. Last season, led by All-American Johni Broome, the Tigers earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and had a school-record 32 wins before losing to Southeastern Conference rival Florida in the national semifinal.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey credited Pearl with helping to elevate the competitive level and popularity of men's basketball in the league with his “dynamic leadership and relentless energy.”
“While his on-court achievements are well documented, it is his genuine connection with fans, media and the broader community that truly distinguishes his impact,” Sankey said.
Pearl and Rick Pitino, who ushered in a quick turnaround at St. John’s, last season shared The Associated Press men’s college basketball coach of the year award. It was the first tie in the 58-year history of the award.
Pearl had a 246-125 record at Auburn, but the school recognizes only 232 of those wins after vacating games from the 2016-17 season because of NCAA infractions involving former assistant coach Chuck Person. Pearl received a two-game suspension for failure to monitor his assistant and adequately promote compliance.
Tennessee had fired Pearl in 2011 after the NCAA charged him with unethical conduct and then additional violations surfaced. He was 145-71 and made the NCAA Tournament all six seasons with the Volunteers from 2005-11, getting to the Sweet 16 three times, and advancing to their first regional final in 2010.
Auburn hired Pearl in March 2014, when he was in the final months of his show-cause penalty, to take over a program that hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2003. The Tigers went six times, all in the past seven seasons.
Before his two SEC stops, Pearl won an NCAA Division II national championship in 1995 with Southern Indiana while going 231-46 in his first head coaching job from 1992-01. He then was 86-38 in four seasons at Milwaukee, going to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2005 before getting hired by Tennessee.
Steven Pearl played 101 games for his father at Tennessee from 2007-11. He was a medical sales representative for three years before joining the Auburn staff in 2014, and was promoted to associate head coach before the 2023-24 season.
“There is nobody more qualified or in a position to maintain our culture of faith, family and doing it the Auburn way than Steven," Bruce Pearl said. “He’s actually tougher than I am, and just as competitive. Out of loyalty to Auburn and me, Steven passed on several previous chances to pursue head coaching opportunities, choosing instead to invest in our men’s basketball program and help it reach unprecedented heights.”
When Bruce Pearl served his two-game suspension early in the 2021-22 season, Steven Pearl was the acting head coach in a pair of lopsided wins.
Auburn AD John Cohen said when he took the job three years ago, Bruce Pearl made it clear he was nearing the end of his career. Cohen said there was an internal national search to prepare for when that happened.
“Throughout our detailed process, it became obvious to me and our staff that Steven Pearl was clearly the best fit for Auburn," Cohen said. “His expertise in coaching defense, his skills as an evaluator, recruiter, teacher and motivator, and his relationships with our student-athletes and staff were paramount.”
This story has been corrected to show that Pearl made the NCAA Tournament in six seasons with Tennessee, not five.
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FILE - Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl celebrates with a net after the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament against Michigan State, Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Democrats called for investigations Wednesday into renovations at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, as the ongoing drama over the president’s problem-plagued, $16 million rehabilitation project continued to roil the capital.
Lawmakers in the House and Senate demanded answers about the saga that's been highlighted in the news cycle for weeks, even as the White House has repeatedly blamed — without evidence — unidentified vandals for peeling paint and other problems. Six people have been arrested, President Donald Trump said, without providing details, and a local wildlife nonprofit conducted necropsies on dead ducks found near the Reflecting Pool. The president has said the pool may need to be drained once again for additional repairs.
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, challenged the Trump administration over no-bid contracts for work on the Reflecting Pool, saying they were awarded to vendors with previous relationships to Trump.
National Park Service projects undertaken at Trump’s behest in the Washington area “have been marked by blatant corruption, a shocking lack of transparency, disregard for legal requirements and apparent incompetence,” Blumenthal wrote Wednesday in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Jessica Bowron, the acting Park Service director.
“Rushed no-bid contracts given to unqualified vendors with previous relationships to the president resulted in a reflecting pool more covered with algae than before, with freshly painted chunks of paint peeling from the bottom to float on the pool’s surface,” Blumenthal said.
The nation's capital “will now celebrate America's 250th birthday with an empty reflecting pool, a testament to incompetence and corruption,” he added.
Ohio-based Green Water Solutions was given a $1.7 million contract to install a water-purification system in the Reflecting Pool, while Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded $14.7 million to repaint and waterproof the pool’s concrete floor.
Both contractors have ties to Trump entities, said California Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
“Donald Trump’s disastrous renovation of our national reflecting pool is his latest failed vanity project,” Garcia said, calling the projects a waste of taxpayer money.
Trump pledged to beautify the century-old Reflecting Pool ahead of the nation's 250th birthday celebrations, draining its water and directing the bottom to be painted a color he dubbed “American flag blue.” But since the site was restored, its water has been plagued by an algae bloom and pieces of the new coating have appeared to be peeling off the bottom.
Without evidence, Trump has repeatedly blamed the peeling paint on vandalism, including a “350-foot gash” in the liner, as the administration faces a self-imposed deadline to complete the renovation before July 4th. Trump also has said the federal government would release images to substantiate his claim.
Trump said Wednesday that “sick people” had used razors and box cutters to slice portions of the lining. He wasn’t sure if the pool draining would come before or after the July 4 holiday, during which tens of thousands of people will be at the National Mall.
The U.S. Park Police posted surveillance footage Wednesday evening and asked for help “identifying the individual depicted here in connection with a Destruction of Government Property investigation.” The grainy, 30-second video appears to show a person kneeling down, reaching into the reflecting pool and removing something from the water. Police said it was taken Friday afternoon.
A White House spokeswoman it’s “a shame that Democrats do not think the capital of the greatest nation in the history of the world deserves to be safe and beautiful.”
Trump “generously spearheaded the restoration of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has long been plagued with algae and leaked 16 million gallons of water per year. The president’s efforts to beautify our nation’s capital are supported by Americans across the country and should be praised by both Republicans and Democrats,″ spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said.
A spokeswoman for Green Water Solutions, also known as Greenwater Services, said Wednesday the company uses devices called nanobubblers to infuse ozone into the water to kill algae and bacteria. The process is “functioning perfectly” and the water looked clear and blue Wednesday, after rain muddled it Tuesday, spokeswoman Erin Kramer said.
“The water is clear. What is visible is the sediment on the pool floor, a natural part of the remediation process when the algae dies,” she said. In a lake or river, that sediment is absorbed, but in a pool it needs to be vacuumed, she said.
The company is owned by John Cafaro, a Trump donor who lives near Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private club in Florida.
Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which spread blue sealant across the pool’s concrete floor, is owned by Curtis “Eddie” Wood. The company said this week it has identified some areas in the Reflecting Pool that require repairs, adding that the work will done once the pool is drained. It was unclear when that will happen.
Amid the calls for investigations, Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado called for Trump to personally reimburse American taxpayers for the pool renovations, which he called “a national embarrassment.”
Americans expect their tax dollars “to fix roads, support schools and protect our public lands,” Hickenlooper wrote in a letter to Trump. “They do not expect to bankroll failed presidential vanity projects. The bill for this fiasco should only belong to you, Mr. President.”
Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard contributed to this story.
Different shades of colors are seen on the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
A duck swims across the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
A white substance is pumped into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
A duck and ducklings swim in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
Visitors take a selfie at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
A white substance is pumped into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
