Bruce Pearl ‘confident’ investigation will soon reach conclusion

AUBURN – Confident.

This is the new word Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl is using to describe his belief in the university’s current ongoing investigation into the program will end soon.

Despite multiple reports, including one from the Montgomery Advertiser, that Pearl isn’t communicating with university officials and the law firm Auburn retained to investigate the matter following Chuck Person’s arrest and indictment, Pearl continued his refrain that his staff is “working through the process” on a daily basis with university officials.

“We're in a tough spot, we're working through it,” Pearl said Wednesday. “There are still things that are going on with the student-athletes and certifying the roster. It's all part of the process. I'm confident we'll get through this.”

More:Pearl claims to have ‘daily’ communication with Auburn administration on investigation

More:Pearl claims ignorance on details that led to staff member suspensions

When asked Wednesday if Pearl and his staff have done everything asked of him by university officials, university council or from the Birmingham firm of Lightfoot, Franklin & White, the Tigers fourth-year head coach avoided a direct answer.

“Again, we’re working through the process and there’s been some discussion about whether we’re cooperating,” Pearl said. “We’ve done a lot of things to try and get through this process and there’s still more that needs to be done. It’s all something that is running its course.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, suspended players Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy are still considered inactive members of the roster and likely will sit out the 6 p.m. contest on Friday night when the Tigers (3-1) host a Winthrop (2-2) squad still looking for its first win against a Division I opponent.

Pearl did confirm Wednesday that Danjel Purifoy was in New York but wouldn’t comment on whether the third-year forward traveled there to meet with attorneys representing the federal court in the Southern District of New York.

More:Wiley and Purifoy still ineligible to play as Auburn opens season

Last week Pearl said he has “an idea” as to the details that led to staff members Jordan VerHulst and Frankie Sullivan being placed on paid administrative leave but couldn’t further comment on the matter. This was said by Pearl a day after saying he didn’t know why this action had been taken.

Junior forward Horace Spencer suggested the answer to whether he and the rest of the players on the Auburn roster worry about Pearl’s job security is “kind of a hard question” because of all the daily uncertainty around the program.

“But I try not to think about it as much because we don’t know what can happen,” Spencer said. “I don’t know what can happen. There’s a whole bunch of might-be’s and maybe’s. You just don’t know what’s going to happen next week. Whatever happens is going to have to happen. We’re just going to have to focus on what we can control.”

Pearl confirmed to the Montgomery Advertiser earlier this month that he hasn’t spoken to anybody involved in the internal investigation. Relevant personnel that Pearl hasn’t spoken to would include athletic department senior officials, athletic director Jay Jacobs, university president Steven Leath, athletic compliance director Rich McGlynn, university legal counsel and the legal counsel Auburn hired from the firm Lightfoot, Franklin & White of Birmingham.

When asked Tuesday why he hasn’t agreed to answer all questions to any authority figures on Auburn’s campus about the investigation, Pearl simply said "a lot of lawyers are involved."