ATLANTA — Auburn coach Bruce Pearl says he wasn’t mixing politics with sports last week when he called for the release of an American hostage in Gaza.
“It’s not political. It’s survival,” Pearl told The Associated Press on Thursday following his news conference ahead of No. 1 seed Auburn’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game against No. 6 Michigan on Friday night.
After Auburn’s 82-70 second-round win over Creighton on Saturday night in Lexington, Kentucky, Pearl opened his postgame news conference by calling for the release of Edan Alexander, the last living American being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas.
Alexander is a 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier who grew up in the United States. Last week, Hamas said it would release Alexander and the bodies of four other hostages held there since its Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel if Israel recommitted to a stalled ceasefire agreement.
Pearl, who is Jewish, said he received approval from his players to address the issue last week.
“First of all, number one I don’t want to take away from Auburn,” Pearl said Thursday. “I don’t take away from the student-athletes and so I asked their permission if I could start that press conference and mention the name Edan Alexander. And they understood. And it didn’t.”
Pearl said it was a rare request.
“I really hadn’t done that on the podium since maybe two or three years ago when when Israel and Iran were in an entanglement,” he said.
Even so, Pearl has not been shy about his social media support of President Donald Trump or his criticism of Trump’s 2024 Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.
Pearl’s players said Thursday they support his right to comment on political subjects just as he has supported them in such efforts as Black Lives Matter events.
“You know, I think Auburn University does a great job of allowing us to really just live as an American, you know, the First Amendment and freedom of speech,” center Dylan Cardwell said Thursday. “Auburn kind of gives us that platform to use our speech to really just show what we’re passionate about.
“Bruce Pearl asked players to go out there and talk about things they are passionate about in the same way he has that same right to talk about things that he’s passionate about. Obviously, he is Jewish … and he’s passionate about Israel. And so I think that he does have the right to obviously be an American and speak about what he’s passionate about, regardless of the fact of what our views are. He comes across as respectful but obviously in a compassionate way.”
Pearl led Auburn (30-5) to the Southeastern Conference regular-season championship. The Tigers were ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for eight consecutive weeks from Jan. 13 to March 3 before Duke rose to the top spot.
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Auburn is led by senior forward-center Johni Broome, a unanimous first-team All-America pick who is averaging 18.9 points. 10.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists.
Broome said he respected Pearl reaching out to the team before speaking about the hostage situation last week.
“Like he said, he asked us, so he did it in a respectful way, you know, but that’s the type of guy he is,” Broome said. “He has a strong belief and what he loves. But at the end of the day he still asked us to see how we felt about it. And we’re behind our coach doing what he loves.”
Originally Published: March 28, 2025 at 9:00 AM CDT
