AUBURN, Ala. – For Bruce Pearl, Saturday’s game started like any other game. He was seated on the bench alongside his staff until about 20 seconds in when he got up to yell something across the court to his team.
You would have had no idea that Pearl, wrapping up his seventh season as head coach at Auburn, was at 599 career wins with a chance to win No. 600 against Mississippi State. Pearl didn’t even realize he was one win away until his assistant coach, Wes Flanigan, popped in his office the week of the game and said, “You get this one Saturday, it will be your 600th.”
“I knew I was getting close, but I honestly did not know that I could get it (this season),” Pearl said after the game. “Because let’s face it, when we were losing early in the year, I was not even thinking about it and didn’t really think it was possible.”
It wasn’t until late in the game, sometime between Flanigan’s violent one-handed dunk and the final seconds ticking away, when it started to sink in for Pearl. Six hundred wins.
Immediately afterwards, Pearl walked over and spoke briefly with the Mississippi State coaches. He then went to midcourt and with his players nudging him, he danced while “Shout” played in the background. After the team prayer, the celebration continued. The players and staff were all wearing shirts and holding up signs to commemorate the moment.
Some of those same shirts and signs had made their way to the fans at Auburn Arena.
As Pearl walked off with his team and looked up at the fans, he became emotional. That emotion carried over to the locker room when he addressed the players.
“I’m grateful,” he told them. “I can promise you this, guys. I give it a good effort. You get my effort. You do.”
Later in his postgame Zoom call, Pearl said: “I’m just grateful to my coaches, staff, managers, the athletic directors that have hired me and retained me, the fans everywhere for giving me the opportunity, for trusting me to lead their programs. I’m truly grateful.”