Steven Pearl Fires Back After Auburn Assistant Accused of Tampering

The Auburn Tigers coaching staff has been under scrutiny for reasons off the court in recent days, as Queens University of Charlotte head coach Grant Leonard claimed on Wednesday that an SEC staffer had been sitting courtside at his team’s games in an attempt to poach members of his roster.

That staffer was later revealed to be Auburn’s Ian Borders.

Borders was attending the ASUN Tournament, which Leonard’s Queens team won to secure an NCAA Tournament bid. Leonard claimed that Borders was at the game to “get ahead” on recruiting one of his Queens players in a post on X on Wednesday.

"We had an SEC assistant buy a courtside seat for one of our conference tournament games to 'get ahead' of recruiting one of my kids," he tweeted.

We had an SEC assistant buy a courtside seat for one of our conference tournament games to “get ahead” of recruiting on of my kids.

Thoughts @GoodmanHoops @jeffborzello @TheFieldOf68 https://t.co/EW6kJoz4UA
— Grant Leonard (@QUCoachGrant) March 11, 2026

Auburn head coach Steven Pearl went to bat for his assistant when asked about the presence of Borders at the tournament, citing bullet points from an email he claimed was sent to all power conference schools on Feb. 27 to prove the legality of the move.

“It is a permissible activity,” Pearl said.

The bullet points Pearl cited by The Athletic's Joe Rexrode and David Ubben were as follows:

“A basketball staff member attending another conference’s basketball tournament would not be prohibited by 11.6 (Scouting of Opponents) since it is unlikely/impossible to be a future opponent at this time of the season.”

“Staff (who are not permissible off-campus recruiters) may observe/evaluate only student-athletes NOT in the transfer portal. Which means, if any participating student-athlete has entered the transfer portal (and becomes a PSA), all recruiting legislation applies — including recruiting periods, counting evaluations, contact restrictions on the day of competition, and permissible recruiters.”

Regardless, Leonard did not take Borders’ attendance at the Tournament lightly, claiming in an interview with The Athletic that tampering from higher-level programs has been running rampant.

“Is this the route we’re really trying to go down? Maybe the NCAA was wrong,” Leonard said. “I don’t know if there’s clear parameters on this. But we probably need them. Because otherwise it’s going to go further and further every year. We don’t want to end up being like junior college. That’s not what we’re trying to do.”

The feud between Leonard and the Pearls continued at the SEC Tournament, as Leonard took a shot at former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl on X after a clip of Pearl visibly upset in the stands surfaced during Auburn’s loss to Tennessee.

Leonard joked that he was the object of Pearl’s frustration in the clip, claiming he commented on Auburn’s assistants not being focused on the game.

He was mad at me, I said something about assistants not being focused on the current game 😂😎🤣 https://t.co/Zxgz1xwdHy
— Grant Leonard (@QUCoachGrant) March 13, 2026

Leonard ultimately had the last laugh on the day, as Auburn suffered a 72-62 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers that not only knocked the Tigers out of the SEC Tournament, but left their NCAA Tournament hopes in severe doubt entering Selection Sunday. Auburn entered the day as the first team out according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, and did themselves no favors with a late-game collapse that felt all too familiar.