Bruce Pearl has wild blowup in stands at SEC tournament: ‘That’s some bulls–t’

Bruce Pearl was caught crashing out during Auburn’s 72-62 loss to Tennessee during the SEC Tournament on Tuesday after making headlines recently for his takes on Miami (Ohio) and unabashedly said that nepotism helped get his son, Steven, the head coaching job at Auburn. 

Video posted to X showed Pearl, who coached Auburn for 11 seasons until he stepped down in September, screaming at someone in the direction of the court, though it wasn’t immediately clear what had upset him. 

“That’s some bulls–t,” Pearl could be clearly heard screaming. 

The longtime college coach turned broadcaster also appeared to drop an F-bomb before he took his seat. 

He had also voiced some frustrations about the game in a post on X as well. 

“There’s Rim Protection and there’s what’s been allowed to happen in the last 10 minutes,” Pearl posted on the social media platform. 

Thursday was a tough day for both Pearls, as the loss to Tennessee put a big dent in the Tigers’ hopes of making the NCAA Tournament, despite some hard lobbying by the elder Pearl.

Bruce Pearl was caught in a heated moment at the SEC Tournament on March 12, 2026.

Auburn led by 10 halfway through the second half when Tennessee went on a 20-0 run to flip the game upside down. 

Steven Pearl made the case following the loss that Auburn still deserved to reach the Big Dance.

Former head coach Bruce Pearl looks on from the crowd during the second half of Auburn’s 72-62 loss to Tennessee in the second round of the SEC Tournament between at Bridgestone Arena on March 12, 2026 in Nashville, Tenn. Getty Images

“Our guys have some of the best wins in college basketball, and this team deserves to be in a tournament,” he told reporters. “It’s a team that can win games in the tournament, and I think they’ve done enough, ultimately, to have their name called on Selection Sunday.”

With all the talk around Bruce Pearl’s original comments about Miami — he has since backtracked and said the RedHawks should make the NCAA Tournament — Steven Pearl was asked after the loss on Thursday about the possibility of facing them in the First Four.

“I hope we do. It would mean that two very deserving teams made the tournament because they went 31-0, which is hard to do regardless of the schedule you play. Even only playing two Quad 2 games and no Quad 1s, but the fact of the matter is they lost to a Quad 4 team today,” he said.