The Auburn Tigers’ current 15-14 record is a far cry from their NCAA Final Four run in 2025. This time last year, Steven Pearl’s dad would’ve been genuinely considering a fairytale ending to his coaching run with an NCAA title after winning all but three games all season. However, in the time it takes to run a single play, Pearl, who has been struggling to make things work in Auburn, has defined his entire season and garnered significant criticism for simply being honest.

“Really disappointed,” Pearl said. “I wanna apologize to our fans who have been so phenomenal all year. They deserve better from us. We gotta do better.”

Contrary to their fierce name, the Tigers are arguably the worst team in the SEC with a 6-10 record. The most recent loss to the Ole Miss Rebels marked their seventh loss in eight games and the first Quad 3 loss of the season. The worst part is that their last three losses have been against teams in the bottom third of the standings.

Pearl took over from his father, Bruce, ahead of the new campaign, after the latter abruptly announced his retirement. After obvious teething problems that were bound to occur earlier in the season, a lack of fight, emotion, and teamwork in a must-win game has fans now questioning his credibility to lead the program.

Fans question Steven Pearl’s coaching pedigree after woeful season

One fan pointed out what others thought was obvious, commenting, “The look of a guy who wasn’t ready to be an SEC HC.”

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While fans want accountability from the team during tough times, Steven Pearl’s constant apologies and dejected demeanor in press conferences displayed his inexperience as a head coach. In fact, his press conference after the Ole Miss game lasted less than three minutes.

“We had an opportunity to step on their throats and extend the leads, and both times, we just had empty possessions offensively,” Pearl also admitted. “You can’t do that, and they took advantage of it.”

One fan said, “This was gross mismanagement by Auburn athletics by hiring this underqualified person.”

“Look up nepotism in the dictionary, and you will see this guy’s picture. Bruce Pearl is a s****** for waiting so long to announce he was stepping down, putting the school in a terrible spot,” another fan wrote.

Handing the keys to an illustrious program like Auburn to a first-time head coach was always going to be a risky move. In fact, until 2014, Pearl worked as a medical sales representative. After playing 101 games for the Tennessee Volunteers over four seasons in college, he left the field altogether before returning to his father’s staff as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. He then gained promotions year after year, eventually taking charge of the defensive unit in 2023, and then took over entirely before the ongoing season.

John Kohen, the Auburn Athletics Director, had described Pearl as “clearly the best fit” for the program. Maybe the management drew inspiration from Duke’s decision to internally promote Jon Scheyer after Mike Krzyzewski’s retirement, which turned out to be a positive move after he led Duke to the ACC title in his first year.

“It’s what Auburn gets for hiring this non qualified so called coach. What did he do to qualify for this position? NOTHING!” a fan wrote.

Last year in December, as his team struggled to put together a string of wins, Pearl addressed the nepotism rumors head-on, saying that he knew what it took to be a successful NCAA head coach.

“I just got to be comfortable in my own skin, that I know I’ve put the work in,” Pearl said. “I know I’m deserving.”

While the numbers aren’t reflecting in Pearl’s favor, something that’s also now irking fans is the constant apologies.

“We didn’t represent Auburn well tonight,” Pearl said after the 91-79 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners.

A group of the fanbase is anticipating Pearl’s resignation.

“Still didn’t announce he was stepping down. So, a wasted 2.5 minutes,” an observer wrote.

Pearl resembles a coach under serious pressure. In February, he announced that Keyshawn Hall, the team’s leading scorer, was out indefinitely after failing to “live up to the standards and expectations of our program.” The coach maintained his stance that their talks would remain “private”; however, the timing of this suspension angered the fanbase further. Hall eventually returned to continue his career-high scoring season.

Another fan estimated a timeline for his potential exit.

“He’ll be gone this time next year,” they wrote.

The roster was considered good enough, with the team earning the 20th seed in the preseason AP poll. But with Pearl underachieving after 15 wins all season, the Tigers won’t be hearing their name announced on Selection Sunday for the first time since 2021, despite still boasting the nation’s best strength of schedule.