Kentucky Basketball: 20 candidates to replace John Calipari as Head Coach

Bruce Pearl

Certainly a known quantity to fans in Kentucky, Pearl has had no shortage of greatness in his own head coaching career. He's had numerous successful head coaching stops including 16 years in the SEC already under his belt. It’s a career that started as an assistant at Stanford and Iowa and has made numerous waves ever since.

Pearl won a D2 national title at Southern Indiana, took Milwaukee to a Sweet Sixteen from the Horizon League, and made numerous trips to the NCAA Tournament at Tennessee. His career hit a pause in 2011 after recruiting violations with the Volunteers, but he’s had an incredible bounce back at Auburn. Inheriting a program with little basketball success, Pearl had the ultimate breakthrough by leading the Tigers to their first ever Final Four in 2019, with continued success since then.

Masterful work with Auburn certainly has Pearl on Kentucky’s radar. He’s a boisterous personality who wouldn’t shy away from the tumult of leading this Kentucky program. He’s certainly older than the average candidate at 64, but likely has a few good years left in him. Would the Wildcats be interested in someone like this? Those years of success at Kentucky’s conference rivals have certainly allowed them to do their homework.