It’s been a few months since Auburn basketball has been in the news, and you have to consider that a giant win. A year ago, I had our preview set to publish when the FBI announced at a press conference that Chuck Person, who was Bruce Pearl’s top assistant coach, had been ensnared in a pay-for-play scheme where coaches acted as middlemen in steering players to agents. That revelation got the seat under Pearl white hot.
There were reports the Auburn brass were close to firing Pearl, who’d already run afoul of the NCAA and earned a one-year show-cause penalty from the boys in Indianapolis.