Bruce Pearl reaches three-game deal with Cliff Ellis, Coastal Carolina

AUBURN -- A former Tigers coach is coming back to the Plains.

Cliff Ellis, who coached Auburn from 1994 to 2004, will bring his Coastal Carolina team to Auburn Arena on Dec. 5 to take on Bruce Pearl, who announced a three-game deal with the program's second-winningest coach on Thursday night at the Lee Country Auburn Club Meeting.

As part of the festivities of this year's game, Auburn will honor its 1999 team, which Ellis coached to a 29-4 record, the SEC Championship and a Sweet 16 appearance.

"Obviously his return is significant to me," Pearl said. "It's a particularly challenging date because we play (Dec. 3) at Texas Tech, come home, and then play him on a Friday so it's not an ideal situation for us."

This year's meeting is the night before the SEC Championship game, which is why the game was scheduled for Friday rather than Saturday.

It will also be another game against a team who appeared in the NCAA Tournament a year ago. The Tigers open against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, travel to Colorado, host Louisiana-Lafayette and then play Oklahoma State in Las Vegas as part of the MGM Main Event.

Auburn has one open non-conference date, Jan.3, which could end up being a game against a Division II opponent. Pearl has radically improved the non-conference strength of schedule from a year ago by loading up on opponents who appeared in last year's Big Dance.

Pearl said he was able to broker the deal with Ellis after getting him back on campus for a letterman's reunion last month.

"He admitted that he was reluctant," Pearl said. "Cliff didn't want to leave Auburn; it wasn't his idea. So it was tough, but he loves Auburn and he still has great friends here at Auburn and his players wanted him to come back. I think his family said 'dad, maybe it's time.'"

Ellis wanted a return visit as part of the arrangement, and Pearl agreed to a 2-for-1 deal "with a little bit of guaranteed money." The Tigers travel to Coastal Carolina in 2015 and the Chanticleers come back to Auburn in 2016.

"Not many SEC schools are going to go to Coastal Carolina," Pearl said. "But it's Cliff Ellis and Coastal Carolina and I just think it's the right thing to do."