Bruce Pearl’s son Steven Pearl explains why Auburn keeps its 13th scholarship spot open: “Really hard to keep 13 guys happy”

Auburn men's basketball team associate head coach Steven Pearl joined "The Next Round" podcast and spoke about team chemistry and how important it is to keep the players happy. Pearl climbed the ladder in the Tigers' team with his promotion in August 2023. He was formerly the director of basketball operations.

Auburn University has 13 scholarship spots open, and they have filled 12 of them already. Steven Pearl spoke about how the playing time and rotation make it difficult to keep 13 guys happy on scholarship.

“It’s really hard to keep 13 guys happy on scholarship. If you get 13 really good players, you could run into some serious issues in the locker room with chemistry, you know, guys not being happy with playing time,” said Pearl. "Then you're gonna end up losing a lot of those guys in the transfer portal."

Steven Pearl also explained why Auburn keeps one scholarship spot of the 13 free:

"So our philosophy has been, you know, trying to keep 11-12 guys on scholarship. That we feel are all capable of playing minutes and letting them compete. We feel like 13 is too many, and then on top of that, you know, since we've been in Auburn, we've been able to award a scholarship to a walk on every single year."

Steven Pearl in Auburn University

Steve is in his 10th overall season with the Auburn men's basketball program. He was also named one of the 50 most impactful high-major assistant coaches in Division I basketball by Silver Waves Media. He also brought in top players in the transfer portal such as Walker Kessler, Wendell Green Jr., Johni Broome and Denver Jones.

The Tigers were ranked the No. 1 program in the country in the 2021-22 season. They were also in The Associated Press Top 25 for 32 consecutive weeks from Oct. 18, 2021, to Feb 5, 2023, which set a school record.

In the 2023-24 season, Auburn finished second in the Southeastern Conference. Steven Pearl will be in full swing to start the next season to help his team reach new heights.

How good do you think Pearl will be at Auburn next season?