Auburn, coach Bruce Pearl agree to new 5-year contract

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Auburn and basketball coach Bruce Pearl have agreed to a new five-year contract.

The deal announced Friday runs through the 2023-24 season. Auburn didn’t release terms.

Pearl led the Tigers to their first Final Four and a Southeastern Conference Tournament title last season, turning around a program that went 15 years without making the NCAA Tournament.

Auburn also won a share of the SEC regular season title in 2017-18. Things haven’t gone as smoothly off the court.

Pearl was hired near the end of a show cause penalty after running afoul of the NCAA at Tennessee. Assistant coach Ira Bowman was indefinitely suspended before the SEC Tournament for alleged involvement in a bribery scheme while at Penn. Auburn fired another top assistant Chuck Person last year after his arrest as part of a federal probe into corruption in college basketball.