BRUCE PEARL ARRIVES
Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl, left, sits among Auburn basketball legends during a press conference Tuesday, March 18, 2014, at the Auburn Arena in Auburn, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)
AUBURN, Alabama -- Bruce Pearl plans to meet with the SEC officials this week to seek guidance as he prepares to strengthen Auburn's non-conference schedule in 2014 and beyond.
The newly-hired coach plans to schedule tougher opponents, and will not shy away from road trips as he follows a blueprint he used during his six seasons as Tennessee's coach in the late 2000s.
"We've got a lot of work to do in scheduling," Pearl said Monday.
Auburn's non-conference schedule has not been up to NCAA snuff in recent years. The Tigers' non-conference slate never ranked higher than 145th in strength of schedule in Tony Barbee's four seasons as coach, according to numbers compiled by CBSSports.com.
Tennessee's non-conference schedule under Pearl ranked in the top 10 four out of six years, and included home-and-home series, neutral site games and road trips to high-profile programs such as Texas, Oklahoma State and Kansas.
Auburn fans should expect Pearl to take the same approach starting next season.
"My philosophy is going to be to play the best schedule we possibly can," Pearl said. "We’re probably going to have to travel some, especially early. I mean, people aren’t going to come here right away, so if I’ve got to go on the road first to develop the program and that’s what we’ll do. We’re going to put the kids in challenging situations early, so that when we get into league play we’re not as overwhelmed."
Auburn worked with the SEC office to strengthen its non-conference schedule in 2013, but games against Clemson and Boston College did not help the Tigers' stock. The Tigers' non-conference strength of schedule ranked 258th nationally, according to CBSSports.com
"You've got to win and you've got to do some work in November and December," Pearl said. "So, we'll try to stay away from those teams that really hurt your RPI. You can't even have one of them. It's almost better to play a Division II school than it is to play a bad RPI Division I."
Auburn's non-conference RPI was 169th nationally in Barbee's final season, and the Tigers ranked in the 200s in back-to-back seasons.
Pearl's first season at Tennessee included road games at Oklahoma State and nationally-ranked Texas in 2005. The Volunteers went on to play West Virginia, Ohio State, Gonzaga, Xavier, Butler, North Carolina, Georgetown, Marquette, Purdue, Southern Cal, Memphis and Virginia Commonwealth in Pearl's final five seasons.
All six of Pearl's seasons at Tennessee included at least one game at a neutral site, and the Volunteers often participated in non-conference tournaments.