Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, Florida’s Todd Golden and Duke’s Jon Scheyer are basketball rivals at the Final Four with a unique thread of connection
Auburn’s Bruce Pearl a vocal leader of a trio of Jewish coaches with teams at the Final FourBy JIM VERTUNOAP Sports WriterThe Associated PressSAN ANTONIO
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, Florida’s Todd Golden and Duke’s Jon Scheyer are basketball rivals at the Final Four with a unique connection: All are Jewish, with careers that have cut various paths through Israel.
To have three Jewish head coaches at one of the biggest events in college sports comes as university campuses grapple with protests over the Israel-Hamas war, Jews are regularly pressed for opinions on the conflict and the Trump administration cracks down on schools it contends are not doing enough to fight antisemitism.
“As a young Jewish boy growing up in Boston, I would have been proud” of three Jewish head coaches leading the sport, Pearl said Friday, the day before his Tigers square off against Golden’s Gators.
And it is a point of pride today for some in the Jewish community in the U.S. and abroad.
“It’s huge, especially this year with antisemitism on the rise,” said Erez Sherman, senior rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles who hosts the “Rabbi on the Sidelines” podcast on faith in sports and has had Pearl as a guest several times. “They (each) have been part of the Jewish-Israel story and coach Pearl takes it to another level.”
Pearl, 65, is by far the the most outspoken of the three about his Judaism and pro-Israel activism. Earlier at this year’s NCAA Tournament, he publicly called for the release the of Edan Alexander, the last living American being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas. The comments prompted a thank-you call from Israel President Isaac Herzog for raising awareness on the hostage issue.
Pearl made a point of mentioning Alexander again during a news conference Friday. He pulled a dog tag from under his shirt that he wears as a reminder of the hostages still being held.
“I don’t always wear it outside because I want it close to my heart,” Pearl said. “It’s just a reminder that, while we’re all celebrating this incredible championship in San Antonio, there’s tremendous suffering in the Middle East, and we pray for peace. And the hostages to come home. If the hostages are released, the death and dying will stop.”
A lighter side
The Jewish connection to this year’s Final Four is not all serious.
Golden noted this week that being a Jew helped him recruit Florida’s star guard Walter Clayton Jr. back to his home state as a transfer from Iona in 2023.
Golden said he thought he already had Clayton locked in when the player’s mother called the him on Easter Sunday to warn him her son might be leaning toward joining Rick Pitino at St. John’s.
“I guess one of the benefits of being Jewish is that we don’t celebrate Easter. Got on a plane that afternoon, flew up, met with Walt on Easter Sunday evening,” Golden said. “Before we left that night, he let us know he was going to come home.”
Israel ties
All three coaches have direct basketball connections to the Jewish state.
In 2009, Pearl coached the U.S. team at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, an international sports events for Jewish and Israeli athletes. The U.S. beat the host team in the final for the gold medal. A key player and co-captain of that squad was Golden, who had finished his college career at St. Mary’s.
Scheyer, 37, and Golden, 39, also hold dual American-Israel citizenship and briefly played professionally in Israel: Scheyer with Maccabi Tel Aviv after his college career at Duke, and Golden for two seasons with Maccabi Haifa.
“Bruce actually recruited me to play for the Maccabi team when I was in college,” Scheyer said. “I’ve had close relationships with those guys for some time. Really happy for them, to see what they’re doing.
“Yeah, of course you’re proud. You’re proud of a lot of things, too,” he added. “Proud of representing Duke and our team. I also acknowledge it’s a pretty rare thing to have three of us in the Final Four.”
Pearl’s passion
In interviews, Pearl often mentions his Hebrew name, Mordechai, while weaving in tales from Jewish tradition and prayer rituals he observed as a child. He will tell the story of his grandfather’s move to the U.S. to escape pogroms in Eastern Europe.
In 2022, he took his Auburn team on a playing tour of Israel, which included visits to Palestinian territories. The team visited the Western Wall and Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center. Several of his Christian players were baptized in the Jordan River.
“It’s great to see a coach who is so vocal about his own faith, but allows us to pursue our own and he encourages us to be vocal about it.” said Auburn senior forward Dylan Cardwell, who was one of those players baptized on the trip to Israel. “I follow his example.”
After the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the Auburn staff wore American and Israeli flag pins at games; for a while, Pearl would wear a piece of tape with a number representing the how many days the hostages had been held.
He also joined the Auburn campus Hillel chapter to pack boxes of supplies, food and other assorted items for Israeli children and soldiers. Several of his players joined in.
“I believe Coach Pearl actually brings people together, even though he has a very strong, passionate voice,” Sherman said.
Pearl also has been unafraid to court criticism. He frequently used his social media account on X to criticize former President Joe Biden’s policies on Israel, the war and on Iran, and to support President Donald Trump. Pearl addressed his willingness to take such public stands.
“Silence is complicity in many, many ways,” Pearl said. “For me and what I stand for, and that’s something I’m proud of as a Jewish man.”
Scheyer and Golden haven’t been as outspoken, but both addressed the Israel-Hamas war when it started and expressed worries about friends they made while playing in Israel.
“I’m incredibly proud to be Jewish. I don’t necessarily love or feel like it’s something that I need to be talking about all the time as a basketball coach,” Golden said. “Because at times, I feel like we have a little more of a stage than we deserve when it comes to these topics. But definitely super prideful to be able to be one of three coaches at the Final Four that’s Jewish.”
Jewish coaching outreach
Pearl was a co-founder and first president of the Jewish Coaches Association, established in 2005 to mentor, promote and advocate for Jewish coaches and, as he puts it, give younger coaches a “little bit of hope that they could be successful.”
The first meetings were small get-togethers “to have coffee, bagels and chat,” said Matt Elkins, the group’s current executive director and assistant recruiting coordinator for Stanford basketball. The organization has now grown 800-strong with members from the high school to college coaching and administration ranks. Some 300 are expected at a Saturday breakfast in San Antonio.
The group is proud to see Pearl, Golden and Scheyer so close to a national championship, Elkin said. The last Jewish coach to win the NCAA Tournament was Larry Brown with Kansas in 1988.
Only one is guaranteed to reach the final, with either Auburn or Florida advancing to Monday night’s game. Scheyer’s Duke team would have to beat Houston to guarantee a Jewish coaching matchup. None of the three — and Houston coach Kelvin Sampson too — has won a Division I national championship.
Pearl and Pitino were named the The Associated Press men’s college basketball coaches of the year on Friday. Scheyer also received votes.
“Each in their own way is representing in a positive way the strength and perseverance of the Jewish people,” Elkin said. “They are saying I’m here and not going anywhere and not backing down.”
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