What Bruce Pearl Will Be Doing Next After Retiring From Coaching Auburn Basketball

The longtime coach shockingly announced his retirement a few weeks ago, leading fans to speculate what the next career move could be for Pearl.
Former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl will be joining TNT Sports as an analyst.
Former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl will be joining TNT Sports as an analyst. / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
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Bruce Pearl shockingly announced his retirement from coaching the Auburn men's basketball team after 11 seasons a few weeks ago, and now we know what his next move is.

Pearl is set to join TNT Sports this upcoming college basketball season as an analyst, Front Office Sports reported on Thursday. He's leaving the sidelines to start his career in television.

The 65-year-old will be a part of the network's inaugural coverage of the Big East and Big 12 conferences. Additionally, Pearl will be included in the network's coverage of the NCAA Division I basketball tournament in the spring, an event Pearl knows all too well as he took Auburn to the Final Four twice, including this past season.

Pearl will join host Adam Lefkoe and analysts Jalen Rose and Jamal Mashburn in the network's college basketball coverage this fall. This could be the start of a long broadcasting career for Pearl.

TNT no longer holds the media rights for the NBA, with NBC, ESPN and Amazon Prime Video winning the rights beginning in 2025–26. College football and basketball are seemingly filling that sports gap on the network moving forward.

Pearl's latest career move helps quiet rumors that he was interested in running for the Senate in Alabama. He already dispelled the rumors in his retirement video when he said he would not be running for the seat in 2026.


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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.