Why Hugh Freeze's first Auburn football team reminds Bruce Pearl of his own early days

AUBURN — When Auburn basketball tips off against Baylor on Nov. 7, it'll officially mark coach Bruce Pearl's 20th season as a Division I coach and his 10th campaign with the Tigers.

Pearl, who previously had stints at Milwaukee and Tennessee, has ushered in unprecedented success since his hire in 2014. He's helped Auburn reach the NCAA Tournament four times since the 2017-18 season and has watched seven of his former players get drafted into the NBA since 2019.

But it wasn't always that way for Pearl, as he endured two losing seasons before he finally got over .500 in his third year at Auburn. Since then, he's guided the Tigers to at least 20 wins in five of their last six seasons.

Watching Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze experience some growing pains in his first year has Pearl reminiscing.

'SHOW ME': Hugh Freeze goes on rant defending Auburn's play calling vs. Mississippi State

CADILLAC WILLIAMS: How a speech from Auburn's associate head coach motivated Tigers to beat Mississippi State

"I'm so happy for his locker room, happy for his staff (and) happy for the Auburn family (for beating Mississippi State)," Pearl said of Freeze on Monday. "His approach this week ... it reminded me again of my first season. KT Harrell and that group so badly wanted to be a part of the turnaround — whether it be culture or the way we trained. It certainly could not be in winning championships right away; that wasn't going to be the turn.

"My first team knew that we were going to get it going. They didn't know when and they didn't know how big a part of it they would be, but they desperately wanted to be part of that history. We can all look back to our first year and go, 'That team didn't quit.' ... That's what this football team is doing right here, right now. ... They've got a lot to play for."

Freeze's team got back to .500 in Week 9, beating Mississippi State to improve to an even 4-4. The Tigers will be looking to make it two consecutive wins by beating Vanderbilt on Saturday (3 p.m. CT, SEC Network).

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Why Hugh Freeze's first Auburn team reminds Bruce Pearl of early days