Bruce Pearl Safe?

Turmoil has engulfed the Auburn athletic department and it mainly surrounds Auburn men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl. Lately, it has been that Pearl has refused to cooperate with the school's ongoing investigation into the corruption and that his job would be in jeopardy if he wasn't. Pearl, however, is going a different route.

This now comes on the heels of the Sept. 26 arrest of former associate head coach Chuck Person. He was recently indicted for his role in the scandal and has since been fired by Auburn.

Pearl's name didn't come up until his week, when an ESPN report indicated that Pearl was on the hot seat and could be fired if he didn't cooperate with the investigation. So far, he's continuing to do that and that seat is getting hotter.

This past Monday, two administrative staffers under Pearl's support staff were put on administrative leave. Though Pearl was informed about the decision, he was not given the specifics.

Pearl said about the investigation on Tuesday, "Yeah, it's difficult...Yesterday (Monday) was a very difficult day. Losing two staff members...that hurts...I've got to prepare to play with these guys."

So Pearl is brushing off all of this, at least for the kids' sakes and I can definitely understand that, but this Auburn team is clearly hurting and it's clearly hurting without two key players that were suspended until further notice as a result of this investigation. Many, including former Auburn player Charles Barkley, believes that the kids should play despite the investigation. I would say the same thing too. The kids did nothing wrong. This was between the schools and the parents of these kids. They should take the bigger blame.

In terms of the Bruce Pearl thing, every day that he doesn't cooperate, the seat gets hotter and hotter, and based on what I'm hearing, he's either not in the loop about the investigation or he doesn't anything that he says to them to be used against him. That's the thinking that Barkley uttered when he had the interview about it. And I can understand that fully. But it's better to cooperate than not to, because it's definitely not a good look if you don't talk to your bosses about what is going on with your program.

The damage may not be done yet. Auburn is quickly becoming Louisville in that regard and Bruce Pearl could be on the outs, despite how successful he has been there, and he has turned around this Auburn program. But investigations do carry consequences, and if this is a consequence he can't overcome, then the university will have to get him of him, no matter what. So, no, he's not safe, but if he cooperates and understands the ramifications of what has happened, he might be able to save his seat there.