{"id":9987,"date":"2025-10-07T00:03:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T00:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/ex-auburn-coach-bruce-pearl-responds-to-espn-host-hoping-he-was-pressured-to-leave-because-he-was-divisive\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T00:03:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T00:03:42","slug":"ex-auburn-coach-bruce-pearl-responds-to-espn-host-hoping-he-was-pressured-to-leave-because-he-was-divisive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/ex-auburn-coach-bruce-pearl-responds-to-espn-host-hoping-he-was-pressured-to-leave-because-he-was-divisive\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Auburn coach Bruce Pearl responds to ESPN host hoping he was pressured to leave because he was ‘divisive’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Bruce Pearl stepped down as the Auburn Tigers<\/u><\/a> men\u2019s basketball head coach on Monday, and a longtime ESPN host appeared rather pleased about the news.<\/p>\n

“Pardon the Interruption” host Michael Wilbon<\/a> called Pearl a “divisive person” and hoped there was “pressure” to push him out of the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He had become a divisive person, it seems to me, intentionally. And I hope there was pressure to just get him out,” Wilbon said.<\/p>\n

Pearl appeared on “The Will Cain Show” on Monday and offered a response to Wilbon, who he said he “loves,” adding that a “dear friend” of Wilbon reached out and said Wilbon’s sentiments were “probably political” and “not antisemitic.”<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n

“I was a regular on \u2018Pardon the Interruption.\u2019 And I love Tony and Mike and have had great relationships with them\u2026 If there’s anything I’m not, that is divisive. I’ve tried to bring people together my entire life. Maybe it’s an example of why we can’t agree to disagree about saying things politically,” Pearl said.<\/p>\n

TARLETON STATE MEN\u2019S BASKETBALL COACH BILLY GILLISPIE ON LEAVE AMID INVESTIGATION INTO ANONYMOUS COMPLAINT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“I was not forced out. I love Auburn. I love the opportunity now to be able to do some things for faith and family and our country, to be an advocate for Israel, an advocate for education. I’m looking forward to being able to do those things while my son is winning basketball games.”<\/p>\n

Pearl, who is Jewish, has expressed his fervent support for Israel in the face of rising antisemitism in the U.S. since the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel. He\u2019s been a supporter of how President Donald Trump<\/u><\/a> has handled the conflicts in the Middle East as well.<\/p>\n

Pearl was one of the most successful men\u2019s basketball coaches at the university. He was 246-125 as the Tigers\u2019 head coach and led the team to two Final Four appearances.<\/p>\n

Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n

Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong><\/i>sports coverage on X<\/strong><\/i><\/a>,\u00a0and subscribe to\u00a0<\/strong><\/i>the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter<\/strong><\/i><\/a>.<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

– FOX NEWS<\/p>\n

This article appeared on the website foxnews.com
\nThis article is taken based on Law no. 8\/1996 of Romania. News does not enjoy copyright, so they can be taken, this is our right to take news and information in its entirety and distribute them further. The content was made available to us through the rss mechanism
\nOriginal Content<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bruce Pearl stepped down as the Auburn Tigers men\u2019s basketball head coach on Monday, and a longtime ESPN host appeared rather pleased about the news. “Pardon the Interruption” host Michael Wilbon called Pearl a “divisive person” and hoped there was “pressure” to push him out of the program.\u00a0 “He had become a divisive person, it […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1150,1],"tags":[9551,1427,6520,595,5020,9547,1363,9549,1607,1002,9548,9550,2413,123,226],"class_list":["post-9987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fox-news","category-news","tag-divisive","tag-because","tag-bruce","tag-coach","tag-espn","tag-ex-auburn","tag-he","tag-hoping","tag-host","tag-leave","tag-pearl","tag-pressured","tag-responds","tag-to","tag-was"],"yoast_head":"\nEx-Auburn coach Bruce Pearl responds to ESPN host hoping he was pressured to leave because he was 'divisive' - 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