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Bruce Pearl used to be the head coach at Tennessee, so Saturday was so perfect for him in every way.
Because now Pearl is the head coach of No. 1 Auburn, which started the first Saturday in March with a mighty impressive road win over No. 17 Kentucky that got the Tigers to 27-2 overall and 15-1 in the jungle that is the SEC.
That alone would’ve made Pearl’s day great enough, as the Tigers went into Rupp Arena and quieted the Kentucky fans with a resounding performance. But that wasn’t it for Auburn and it wasn’t it for Pearl, who was the head coach at Tennessee from 2005-11.
Because his former school pulled off one of the most dramatic victories of a pulsating season in the SEC, as the fifth-ranked Volunteers outlasted No. 6 Alabama, 79-76, on a last-second shot that sent the fans that used to cheer for Pearl into bedlam.
And the reason why the shot also sent Pearl’s current school into celebration was because Alabama’s loss was Auburn’s gain. The Tigers are now 3 games ahead of the Crimson Tide in the SEC standings with just 2 games left, meaning that Auburn has now clinched the SEC regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament.
So, naturally, Pearl went to social media to celebrate his current and former schools. He tweeted “VFL” which means “Vol for life” and followed it with a “War Damn Eagle.” Here is Pearl’s perfect reaction:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
