Goodman: Steven Pearl is his own man, and the wins are coming

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Steven Pearl might already be the smoothest head basketball coach in the SEC.

Here was the scene just before Pearl was introduced as Auburn's coach. Maybe SEC rivals Todd Golden and Nate Oats should take some notes.

Pearl's news conference was held at the football practice facility on Wednesday because the crowd was so large. All the dignitaries were there, and boosters, and cameras. It was standing room only. Auburn is a basketball school with a football problem.

Like the passing of a crown, everyone was gathered for Bruce Pearl's retirement and Steven Pearl's coronation. It felt more like a party than a press event. There were even refreshments.

Everyone had pretty much arrived and taken their seats when Steven walked into the room. It wasn't time for the event to begin. No, Steven was making a point to escort wife Brittany to her seat.

It was a touching moment amid a loud room full of excitement and buzz. Brittany Pearl was pushing a stroller. Steven gave his wife a kiss and then walked back behind a partitioned wall to prepare for his speech.

With the Pearls, as with Auburn, it's all about family.

Let's get one thing straight. Steven Pearl is the head coach at Auburn because he's the son of Bruce Pearl. The Pearls engineered this transition of power. I'm not going to pretend otherwise or even entertain the idea that Auburn athletics director John Cohen had a short list of national candidates. It's not my job to perpetuate the idea that Steven had no idea until a couple days ago that he was about to be named the new basketball coach at Auburn University.

Like Steven said after being introduced, he has been preparing to be a head basketball coach his entire life.

He grew up watching and studying his father. He played for Bruce at Tennessee. He was an assistant for Bruce at Auburn for 11 years. College basketball is all Steven knows. Pearl is 38 years old, which makes him the youngest men's basketball coach in the SEC.

People will doubt the ability of Steven Pearl based on his age and inexperience as a head coach, but I will not be one of those non-believers. He might be in this position thanks to his father, but I have a feeling that Steven Pearl is going to win a lot of basketball games.

Pearl is Auburn's head coach today because he earned this opportunity. Listen to him speak for five minutes, and it becomes crystal clear that he's an excellent leader and an elite communicator. It's the things he didn't say, though, that stuck with me.

Escorting his wife into the room.

The bro hugs he gave his players and coaches before walking in front of the microphone.

The tears during his speech.

Pearl is different from his father in a lot of ways, but the passion is there. The charm is obvious. The presence is undeniable.

And he's got pretty good jokes, too.

That was clear when he made the university president offer up the loudest applause in the room.

Steven said a lot of things on Wednesday. He has a solid plan for recruiting, and on-court tactics, and roster management, and leadership, and on and on. It was a great speech and his answers to questions from reporters were all thoughtful. I only remember one thing specifically, though.

Steven cracked that he probably wasn't going to have as large a presence on Twitter as his father. That's all university president Christopher B. Roberts wanted to hear.

President Roberts almost came out of his seat with excitement. The entire room erupted with laughter. Bruce smiled in the corner like a dad watching his son dunk on him from the free-throw line.

"I'm already winning the press conference," Steven said.

Many more wins are coming, too.

The first season might be tough. There will be a learning curve, no doubt. This couldn't have gone any smoother, though, and that's a credit to Steven Pearl. His players already love him because he recruited the whole team. His coaching staff respects him because Steven has put in the work and toiled for years.

He wants to be better than Bruce, and really that's all fathers can hope for in this life.

Steven's confidence and swagger are all his own. He gets the raw passion from his dad.

Auburn's new basketball coach openly cried multiple times during his introduction to the basketball world. Those displays of emotion were more powerful than anything he could've said.

Bruce Pearl's son offered an insightful answer to my question about his father. It revealed a lot about how he wants to coach and how he sees himself differently from his dad.

What did you learn from your father about the importance of coaching with passion?

The answer was pure Steven, which means it was all about his new team.

"As we all know, [Bruce] looks like he's going to have a heart attack most of the time on the sideline," Steven Pearl said. "One of the things about his passion is that it's contagious, and I think our players feed off it. I think for me as a head coach now, I've got to be a little different ... I need to be a little more poised in my approach with our guys, but, in practice, I'm always going to bring energy, always going to bring that same passion, especially on the defensive end of the floor. It's going to be important for us, but for this new group, a lot of it's got to be led through making mistakes and letting them feel this thing out because we are so new.

"I've learned that our guys would feed off it (passion), but I also have to be careful with my approach just because I am a new head coach, so I've got to be sensitive to some of those things. Part of it, too, is BP came up in an era where tough coaching was a little more allowed and acceptable.

"Things have changed and you have to treat them all fairly, but you're going to treat them all differently, if that makes sense. I think our guys all know that and understand that ...a lot of healthy balance and passion."