National Champion Head Coach Raves About Steven Pearl Promotion

Steven Pearl enters his first season leading the Auburn Tigers after spending the previous 12 seasons in various roles with the program.

Auburn Tigers head coach Steven Pearl enters his first season as the head coach. | Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

AUBURN, Ala.-- If there's anyone outside of the Auburn Tigers who knows Steven Pearl the best, it's Florida head coach Todd Golden.

A former assistant at Auburn, Golden is currently in his second head coaching job of his career and fresh off leading the Gators to the program's third national title. During his portion of Wednesday's SEC Media Day, Golden praised Steven Pearl ahead of his first season as the Tigers' head coach.

He also commended the program for hiring within after Bruce Pearl's sudden retirement.

"I'm incredibly confident he's going to be very successful as a head coach at Auburn," he said. "I think it's important, you look around, let's just use the Final Four last year as an example. Three of those four programs will hire within for their next coach."

Golden specifically pointed to Duke promoting Jon Scheyer after Mike Krzyzewski's retirement, and Houston likely promoting Kellen Sampson once his father, Kelvin, retires.

Florida Gators head coach Todd Golden and former Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl have a close personal relationship. | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While Steven Pearl may be in his first head coaching gig, Golden pointed to his history at Auburn as the best reason for trusting the longtime assistant. Pearl first joined his father's staff in 2014 as an assistant strength and conditioning coach before being promoted to Director of Basketball Operations in 2015.

In 2017, he was promoted to his first on-court coaching job as an assistant, a position he held until 2023, when he was, once again, promoted. For the last three seasons, Pearl was the associate head coach right under his father.

In his time with the program, Auburn went to the Final Four twice, won three SEC Regular Season titles and won another two SEC Tournament titles.

"When you achieve success at an incredibly high level like Auburn over the last decade, I think you have the right to have somebody within your program get the opportunity to lead," Golden said. "... The reality is Steven knows what it takes to be successful. He did it as a player. He's done it in different facets as a coach. He's an incredibly hard worker and great leader. I'm excited for him to have this opportunity."

Steven himself has thanked Golden for his support in the early portion of his tenure.

The two trace their friendship back to the 2006 Maccabi Games and have played on multiple Maccabi teams, including one in 2009 with Bruce Pearl has the head coach. The friendship grew as assistants at Auburn in the early days of the Bruce Pearl Era, and even after Golden left for an assistant job with San Francisco, Golden and the Pearls remained in close contact.

While friends, Steven Pearl also considers Golden a mentor.

"I’m going to lean on him because obviously he’s been through what I’m going through right now. I know he’ll always pick up the phone, except for the week we’re playing them. He probably won’t pick up the phone then when I call and ask about his game plan or some of the play calls they have or what their plan is to stop our guys. But he was obviously thrilled and really excited.

"He's been telling me for years that I'm ready for this moment and this opportunity."