Auburn athletic director elaborates on Bruce Pearl, future of men’s basketball program
As long as there are no new developments, new Auburn athletic director Allen Greene already has his men’s basketball coach of the future.
Greene discussed Bruce Pearl and the state of the Auburn basketball program on WJOX-FM’s The Roundtable Wednesday. Greene shared what he he has witnessed since stepping in as athletic director and his plans for the team moving forward.
“I felt that after being on campus for a few weeks and being around the team I had a good enough chance to understand coach, look at his program and just realize, you know what, we do have a great person here for us and we want to see that success continue,” Greene said. “We want to do it the right way, and it’s unfortunate that the state of college basketball is where it is. We didn’t get that way overnight, and we certainly won’t fix things overnight.
“But knowing the process of the FBI and NCAA investigation — who knows how long it’s going to be? It’s going to be lengthy. So, I think it’s in our best interest to stay the course.”
Greene was asked if he planned for Pearl to remain Auburn head coach, barring something new coming from the investigation.
“Absolutely,” Greene said.
Greene officially replaced departing athletic director Jay Jacobs on Feb. 1 in the midst of a tumultuous season for Auburn. Pearl’s Tigers took a share of the SEC title but also dealt with the distractions of teammates Danjel Purifoy and Austin Wiley being suspended for the season and assistant coach Chuck Person being arrested for their connections to the FBI’s investigation.
Auburn opened an internal investigation in January and is cooperating with the FBI. University president Steven Leath said the NCAA will also investigate.
Despite all the off-the-court drama, Greene sounded steadfast in supporting Pearl at this time.
“One of the things that’s really important to the Auburn family is we do things the right way,” Greene said. “Bruce feels like he’s done nothing wrong. He and I have talked about that, and I don’t have a reason to do anything other than what we’ve been doing — supporting him and his student-athletes.”
This story was originally published March 28, 2018 at 1:02 PM with the headline "Auburn athletic director elaborates on Bruce Pearl, future of men’s basketball program."