ATLANTA – Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl is on the 2025 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year Watch List presented by AXIA Time, as announced by the Naismith Awards on Friday.
Pearl is in his 30th overall season and 11th at Auburn. He has led the Tigers to unprecedented heights since his arrival on the Plains including a program-best No. 1 national ranking twice in 2022 and 2025 and four SEC Championships (2018, 2019, 2022 and 2024).
Auburn currently boasts the best record in college basketball at 24-2 overall and 12-1 in Southeastern Conference play. The Tigers are having a historic season with the most Quad 1 wins in the nation and best offensive efficiency in the KenPom Rankings era.
Pearl was joined on the list by Greg Gard at Wisconsin, Dennis Gates at Missouri, Todd Golden at Florida, Penny Hardaway at Memphis, Tom Izzo at Michigan State, Pat Kelsey at Louisville, Dusty May at Michigan, Grant McCasland at Texas Tech, Ben McCollum at Drake, Matt Painter at Purdue, Rick Pitino at St. John’s, Richard Pitino at New Mexico, Kelvin Sampson at Houston and Jon Scheyer at Duke.