With the announcement of Bruce Pearl’s hiring as Auburn’s new basketball coach, a memory of a mid-major battle hit me.
In December of 2005, coming on the heels of my Manhattan Jaspers’ upset of the Florida Gators and subsequent 2 point loss to Chris Paul and Wake Forest the previous spring, which cost us a trip to the Sweet 16, we met Bruce Pearl’s UW-Milwaukee Panthers in their house.
UW-Milwaukee’s trip to the Sweet 16 the season before and a current Top 25 standing set the stage for the first ever “ESPN Bracket Buster Game” to be televised nationally.
On the flight into Mitchell Field and in the locker room before the game, I could sense how tight my team was. In these situations it is vital for a coach to be calm, confident and have his players play loose and wide open. My Jaspers responded and we won the game going away.
Bruce’s years of unmitigated success at UW-Milwaukee led to his hiring at Tennessee, and the rest is history. His current hiring at Auburn this past week proves that certain institutions fear and hate losing more than they adore winning. It seems in today’s politically correct society, with the constant social media microscope, many institutions and organizations seem to fear winning and the big dreams it inevitably comes with.
What I mean is that some people are more comfortable with mediocrity and never dream large enough. I got laughed at when I told people I dreamed of winning a Final Four game when I coached at Manhattan. While Bruce has his baggage, who among us doesn’t. His ability to motivate his players and win games is the reason he won the Auburn job.
I applaud the bold hiring move by Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs, who answered the prayers of the school’s long suffering hoops fans. Bruce has been given a second chance and I, for one, am rooting for him to continue his long history of success.
While Bruce is one of the original bracket busters, he wasn’t the first, and has been followed in the past decade by Jim Larranaga at George Mason, Shaka Smart at VCU and Brad Stevens (the current Boston Celtics coach) while at Butler.
This year’s tourney is sure to add some names to this list of modern day King Davids slaying the Goliaths.
