Auburn head men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl probably didn’t plan on his team being the number one story in college hoops before their top ten matchup against Houston on Saturday.
But as most college coaches have learned over the years, when 18 to 22-year old athletes are involved, things can go south in a hurry. That’s what happened — quite literally — when Auburn’s plane had to turn around mid-flight after an altercation between two players.
The Tigers would end up winning the game, with the two players involved left behind in Auburn following the incident. As one could imagine, the story has been top-of-mind for those on the college basketball beat. And when Pearl went on The Goodman and Hummel Basketball Podcast with Jeff Goodman and Robbie Hummel on Monday morning, he was peppered with questions about the altercation as expected.
“Before we get to you going to Houston and beating them, let’s start with the incident that happened on the plane,” Goodman began. “So what did happen on the flight, the first flight, to Houston?”
“Well listen, I’m limited in what I want to say. But it was an unfortunate situation. But we are dealing with it head on and it’s sort of an ongoing process. So, um, I think that’s the best way I can approach it,” Pearl answered rather tersely.
That didn’t stop Goodman from pressing on details about the situation.
“If I gave you multiple choice and said; horseplay, shenanigans, a donnybrook, or a full-fledged brawl, you can’t pick one of those four? A, B, C, or D,” Goodman pestered.
“Yeah well, no. I think in order to be in compliance with my leadership and- but listen, we are, we’re going to handle it the right way. Just, we’re going to handle it the right way. And in spite of the- a very rough start to our trip, we played in a basketball game in November that felt like it was March,” Pearl said trying to pivot to talking about his team’s win.
Hummel then asked whether or not the two players involved in the incident would be available for Auburn’s game against Kent State later this week.
“It’s an ongoing process Robbie. And they’ll be in class tomorrow,” Pearl answered. “We’ll do it the right way, be fair to all concerned. But it’s ongoing so therefore I really can’t comment.”
Pearl was then posed with one more question from Hummel about whether the game felt any different given the team had to take two flights to Houston. After explaining it was really no different than if the team’s original flight had gotten delayed, Pearl went back to talking about the game against Houston.
But at the end of his answer, the Auburn coach expressed his displeasure with the line of questioning.
“You notice I’m trying to shift gears here with this interview? You notice how I’m trying to move- do I need to do your job and my job? I tell you what. Let me go in the studio, I’ll sit there. I’ll ask the questions and I’ll answer them,” Pearl ranted.
The lighthearted banter had Goodman and Hummel in stitches. And Pearl had a point, it was pretty clear from the brevity of his previous answers that he didn’t want to talk about the in-flight altercation. But to Goodman and Hummel’s credit, that didn’t stop them from asking the questions that people wanted to hear answered.
Luckily, Pearl seems to have a good rapport with the two hosts and felt comfortable busting their chops, so the moment was more funny than awkward.
Pearl knows what it’s like to sit on the media side of the equation. He served as an analyst at ESPN for two years between his prior gig coaching Tennessee and current stint at Auburn.
But it’s understandable he’d want the focus to be on his team’s big win against Houston rather than a scuffle between two of his reserve players at 30,000 feet.
