Steven Pearl Sheds Light on Auburn’s Retention Mentality, Shares Advice for Young Players

The Auburn basketball head coach has already picked up valuable knowledge going into his second season as the head man for the Tigers.

Auburn head coach Steven Pearl had a solid foundation for his second season as head coach, having names like Tahaad Pettiford. | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Auburn Tigers’ basketball program has had a rollercoaster of the last two seasons, with the 2024 squad making it all the way to the Final Four, while the following season’s roster missed out on March Madness altogether, instead settling for an NIT Championship win.

In the wake of such a disappointing 2025 season, many Tiger fans believed that key players like Tahaad Pettiford and Kevin Overton may hit the transfer portal, but both made the decision to stick around, Pettiford for his junior season, Overton for his senior season.

How, after such a disappointing season in the modern era, did Auburn head coach Steven Pearl keep those two on the roster? In an episode of Stuck in My Thoughts, a podcast hosted by Justin Stuckey, Pearl shed some light on the issue.

“Part of it is on us, too,” Pearl said. “We gotta have genuine, authentic relationships to give them a reason to stick around. You can’t look at this as an eight-month transaction. You have to look at this as something you can build long-term, if you want to really have any sort of retention.”

Pearl did not stop at just what the coaches are doing to keep players around, either; he also shared some advice for young basketball players who are looking to play in college.

“My biggest advice for young men and college basketball players is, the first time you experience a little adversity, don’t bolt. That’s the good stuff,” he said. “That’s where you really find out what you’re made of and who you are, and you’ll be better for it.”

Pearl does acknowledge that this is not the end-all, be-all of basketball, though, as, of course, there are exceptions to that rule. 

“Now, if you’re a couple of years in, and it’s like ‘Alright, this isn’t working, I need to find something new,’ okay. But I think that the biggest thing we’re seeing a lot in this landscape is that the second one thing goes wrong: ‘Alright, I’m transferring.’ That’s not gonna help you down the road, you can’t do that in the real world.”

Auburn saw quite a few transfers out after lone seasons with the program, including top 2025 recruits Filip Jovic and Sebastian Williams-Adams, both of whom were expected to be top performers for the Tigers’ 2026 roster at the time of their transfers.

Pearl has reloaded the roster quite impressively, though, and the Tigers appear poised to be better than ever, but the program’s future will, once again, come down to who decides to stay and who decides to transfer following the conclusion of the 2026 season. 

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