By refusing to cooperate with an internal investigation, Bruce Pearl may not be the Auburn head coach for much longer.
The Auburn Tigers are one of the programs that have been caught up in the recent FBI probe into college basketball, and to say this has not been their best week may be an understatement. Just one day after the program fired one of the assistants caught up in the probe, head coach Bruce Pearl looks as if he may be the one out of a job on the Plains next — by his own doing.
According to a report from ESPN’s Mark Schlabach, Pearl is refusing to cooperate with the internal investigation that school is running following the FBI’s announcement back in September. Because of Pearl’s refusal to cooperate, he has reportedly been informed by the administration that they will fire him should he not change his stance.
Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl is refusing to cooperate in the school’s internal investigation into... https://t.co/ZwUvc7XBOr
— Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) November 8, 2017
On Tuesday, it was revealed that assistant coach Chuck Person was fired by the school back in Oct., and just earlier this week he was indicted by a grand jury for his involvement with what the FBI was investigating.
Reportedly, Pearl is refusing to speak to the lawyers, and because of this, according to the ESPN report, a decision could be made on his status within the next two weeks or so.
Should this actually be the case, this doesn’t seem like the smartest move for Pearl here. While it’s not the FBI that’s conducting this particular investigation, rather a separate law firm, it still all centers around the bombshell that was dropped back in September. No matter what, as long as an investigation is being held, the move here is to just cooperate — no matter who it is.