Bruce Pearl reveals troll job from wife amid Final Four run
04/01/2025 01:36 PM
Auburn men’s basketball is headed to the Final Four for the second time in school history and the Tigers are seeking their first national championship.
Head coach Bruce Pearl has built the once dormant program into perennial contenders, and when he’s pacing the sidelines in San Antonio, he will have his family in the stands cheering him on. His wife just has one request.
"My wife has said, enough already with this taking your shirt off, America has seen quite enough of that bad body, that's actually the incredible bulk not the incredible hulk."
– Bruce Pearl pic.twitter.com/qFLYqoOPwJ
— CBS Sports College Basketball (@CBSSportsCBB) April 1, 2025
“My wife has said, enough already with this taking your shirt off,” Pearl recalled in an interview on CBS Sports Tuesday afternoon. “America has seen quite enough of that bad body, that’s actually the incredible bulk not the incredible hulk.”
Pearl, oddly, has a history of taking his shirt off in public. In 2021, he attended Auburn’s home football game against Georgia and went shirtless in the student’s section. Back when he was coaching Tennessee, Pearl not only took his shirt off but painted his chest orange to support the Vols’ women’s basketball team in a game against Duke.
If this does, indeed, mean Pearl’s days of going shirtless are behind him, credit his wife Brandy for sparing us all.
Auburn men’s basketball has reached new heights under Bruce Pearl
Not only has Pearl led the Tigers to their only two Final Four appearances ever, he’s also brought them to their only two Elite Eights since 1986. Before Pearl took over in 2014, the program hadn’t reached the Sweet 16 since 2003, hadn’t won the SEC Tournament since 1985 and hadn’t won the SEC regular season since 1999.
Thinking about the program’s history, Pearl had one alum in mind when asked who he wants to see in the Alamodome as Auburn takes the court.
“The only non-family member, to me, other than the Auburn family will be Sir Charles Barkley,” he said. “It means so much to Charles that our program is competitive at the highest level so obviously having Charles in the house is pretty special for Auburn.”
As Auburn’s most visible men’s basketball alum, Barkley is part of the broadcast team at Turner and has been publicly cheering on the Tigers all tournament — as he always does. Barkley played at Auburn from 1981 to 1984, having his No. 34 retired in 2001.
Before Pearl, the team hadn’t had an All-American since 1999. In the last three years alone, Jabari Smith, Walker Kessler and Johni Broome have all been named All-Americans, with Broome doing it each of the last two seasons.
All that’s missing for Auburn basketball is that elusive national championship.
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