Long-time college basketball head coach Bruce Pearl sent shockwaves through the sport earlier this week when he announced that he would step down as the head coach of Auburn, a Southeastern Conference powerhouse that he guided to the Final Four in 2019 and 2025.
Pearl, who was also the head coach at Tennessee and several other schools, will be replaced by his son, Steven Pearl, who has signed a five-year contract to become Auburn's new head coach. With this news, players on the Tigers' roster have a 30-day window in which they can enter the transfer portal, due to the head-coaching change.
We'll have to see if any Auburn players hit the portal, and one guard with the Tigers, sophomore Tahaad Pettiford, is a former Syracuse basketball recruiting target from New Jersey. I'm not suggesting that Pettiford will enter the transfer portal, or that the Orange would show an interest in him if he did.
A former Syracuse basketball 5-star target has a new head coach in college.
That being said, I always monitor transfer portal developments as it relates to former 'Cuse recruits, so here we are. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound Pettiford was excellent as a freshman at Auburn. He averaged 22.9 minutes, 11.6 points, 3.0 assists and 2.2 rebounds per game as the Tigers went 32-6 overall and were ranked No. 4 in the top-25 polls.
Pettiford, in the 2024-25 term, connected on 42.1 percent from the field, 36.6 percent from beyond the arc and 80.4 percent from the free-throw line. He resided on the SEC's All-Freshman team and was also named to the 2025 NCAA Tournament's South Regional All-Tournament squad.
Within the 2024 class, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite placed him as five stars, No. 29 overall, No. 2 at point guard and No. 3 in New Jersey. As a senior at Hudson Catholic Regional High School in Jersey City, N.J., Pettiford competed in the prestigious McDonald's All-America game.
Looking ahead to the Orange's 2025-26 season, which officially gets underway in early November, the team has 13 scholarship players. Earlier this year, the House settlement paved the way for college basketball teams to have up to 15 scholarship players on their rosters, so the 'Cuse should have two open scholarships.
However, Syracuse basketball has an extremely deep backcourt. So even if Pettiford were to enter the portal, I don't think that the Orange staff would likely make a run at him.