Tom Izzo outlasts yet another legendary college basketball coach

Some major college basketball news broke on Monday afternoon, as legendary head coach Bruce Pearl is expected to retire before the start of the 2025-26 season.

In case you don't recall, Pearl is who eliminated Tom Izzo from the 2025 NCAA Tournament, beating the Spartans in the Elite Eight behind a powerful team of veterans. Michigan State was the best team from the Big Ten, and Auburn was the second-best team in the SEC behind national champion Florida.

It was an epic showdown between two great teams led by legendary head coaches.

And it looked like those coaches would eventually meet again in some huge game in March, but that now, unfortunately, will not be the case. It was announced on Monday that Pearl has coached his last game.

Another legendary coach has retired while Izzo continues his pursuit of national title No. 2. Not only does that show that Izzo is one of the hardest-working coaches in the game, but it also shows just how impressive his longevity is. He started his head coaching career back in 1995, and he's still going today, in pursuit of No. 2.

Pearl is younger than Izzo, but has been a head coach for a few years longer, taking over at Southern Indiana in 1992. He has done nothing but win since, accumulating a career record of 706-268.

While his career wasn't clear of controversy, Pearl was one of the most respected head coaches in the game, and every program he led became a winner. He went 231-46 at Southern Indiana before getting hired at Milwaukee where he went 86-38. He then went to Tennessee where he was 145-61 before taking over a struggling Auburn program, going 244-123 over 11 seasons.

Izzo has outlasted another legendary coach. He must now carry the torch as one of the most veteran coaches in the game, and the Hall of Famer just needs to win national title No. 2 before he joins his friends in retirement.