Preseason Questions: Which New Coach Will Reach March Madness First?
Posted by Evan Williams on November 3rd, 2014As always, college basketball received a series of new hires this offseason, with a number of familiar faces changing venues on the coaching landscape. A few notable faces in new places are Marquette’s Steve Wojciechowski, Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, Wake Forest’s Danny Manning, Missouri’s Kim Anderson, Tulsa’s Frank Haith and California’s Cuonzo Martin. There are obviously numerous obstacles inherent in taking on the role of a new coach at a new program. Some may embrace the challenge and build to reach the greatest of heights (see: Calipari, John; Pitino, Rick; etc.), while others may face too daunting of a task and eventually fall flat. Either way, building a successful program from the ground up is a difficult process and only certain individuals have proven that they can get the job done.
Bruce Pearl is Back in College Basketball at Auburn
When considering which new coach can get his team to the Big Dance the soonest, there’s one name that continues to pop up — Bruce Pearl. The former Tennessee coach was very successful in his time with the Volunteers, that is, until the NCAA got involved, and well, you know the story. Pearl spent his last couple of years working with ESPN as an analyst before getting hired by Auburn. Is Auburn the ideal program? Probably not. The job isn’t nearly as attractive as its football counterpart, but it does have excellent potential. Tony Barbee certainly couldn’t do it, but if anyone is going to push the Tigers back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003, it’s going to be Pearl. He hasn’t even coached a game, and Pearl has already elevated the basketball program. How has he gotten the folks at Auburn excited? Simple: recruiting.
Have a look at this sequence: In a period of weeks, Pearl landed a commitment from four-star forward Horace Spencer, whose pledge followed four-star forward Danjel Purifoy‘s commitment on August 22, and it was eventually followed by a commitment from top-10 JuCo player T.J. Dunans and another from Trayvon Reed –a four-star center in the class of 2014 who was recently dismissed from Maryland. In terms of this season’s roster, Pearl also landed Cinmeon Bowers, a former Florida State player rated the best JuCo player in the class of 2014, three-star guard T.J. Lang from Virginia Tech, and three of the most talented transfers in college hoops: Antoine Mason, the leading returning scorer in all of Division I basketball, of Niagara; and K.C. Ross-Miller from New Mexico State; and Kareem Canty from Marshall (who must sit out 2014-15). Auburn hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament in nearly 12 years, but you’d better expect that to change soon.
It is well-documented that SEC basketball practically belongs to Florida and Kentucky, but Pearl seems hellbent on changing that. Will Auburn win the SEC this season? Probably not, but it will win some games it isn’t supposed to and we should expect the Tigers to shock a few teams this year in conference play. That said, the third place position behind Kentucky and Florida is virtually wide open. Pearl is a proven coach, and while Auburn will be an unpredictable team this season, the Tigers behind the scoring of KT Harrell and Pearl’s crop of newcomers will leave their impact. That impact may not quite be enough to propel this squad into the NCAA Tournament, but would anyone be surprised if Pearl was dancing come next March?
