Auburn University head men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl on Friday was announced as a semifinalist for the Werner Ladder Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year.
The Atlanta Tipoff Club administers the award annually and made the announcement.
This marks the second time in the last three seasons that Pearl has been named a semifinalist for the prestigious national coach of the year award.
He is one of 10 coaches left in contention for the honor and is joined by John Calipari of Kentucky as the only coaches represented from the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
The other semifinalists are Patrick Chambers (Penn State), Scott Drew (Baylor), Brian Dutcher (San Diego State), Mark Few (Gonzaga), Anthony Grant (Dayton), Leonard Hamilton (Florida State), Greg McDermott (Creighton) and Mark Pope (BYU).
After losing his top three scorers and five of the top eight from the historic Auburn team that went to the Final Four last season, Pearl has Auburn near the top of the SEC once again. The Tigers at this point are two games ahead of where they finished a season ago and have already achieved their third consecutive 20-win season, something that has only happened once previously in program history: 1983-86.
Further, Auburn’s 2020 senior class has become the winningest class in program history with 98 wins in their time on “The Plains.”
The Naismith Awards master voting academy will soon narrow the award contenders down to four finalists, to be announced on March 18.
From there, fans will be able to support their favorite coach by voting online between March 20-April 1; this fan vote will account for five percent of the overall final vote.
The ultimate award winner will be announced on April 5.
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Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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