One of the biggest names of the Bruce Pearl era is joining his staff at Auburn.
Pearl's staff plans to add former Tigers guard KT Harrell as a graduate assistant, a source close to the situation told AuburnSports.com. There are still "administrative" matters to attend to, a source said, but Auburn and Harrell have agreed to the pairing.
Harrell spoke about the opportunity on ESPN 106.7's The Lunch Break on Friday
"Basketball isn't going to last forever as far as playing," Harrell said. "You can still have an impact on the game other than being out on the floor and playing. So I'm excited about it."
A product of Brewbaker Tech in Montgomery, Harrell transferred from Virginia after two seasons with the Cavaliers and enrolled at Auburn two years before Pearl arrived.
After sitting out one season due to NCAA transfer rules, he played his junior year under Tony Barbee and his senior year coinciding with Pearl's first season with the Tigers.
He started 75 of Auburn's 77 games from the 2013-14 to 2014-15 season, leading Auburn in scoring both years with 18.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per game while shooting 44.3% from the field.
Harrell was the second-best 3-pointer shooter in the SEC his senior year with a 43.4% mark from downtown.
After the Tigers went 4-14 in the league Harrell's senior season, he powered them to three wins in the SEC Tournament in Nashville.
He scored 19 points in a first-round win over Mississippi State, 25 points in the next round against Texas A&M, and 29 points against LSU to advance to the semifinals, where Auburn fell to undefeated (33-0) Kentucky.
Against LSU, the guard scored all 11 of Auburn's points over the final 2:30 of regulation, including a 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds remaining that tied the game at 64-64. Auburn won 73-70 in overtime.
"They're going to look back at this year, and they're going to say, 'This is where it started,'" Harrell said after the 2015 SEC Tournament run of the future of Auburn basketball under Pearl.
After going undrafted, Harrell played NBA Summer League ball for the 76ers before playing a season overseas in Turkey. He returned to America the following year and played with the Pelicans during Summer League, but was never picked up by an NBA or G League squad.
Harrell signed with Mens Sana 1871 Siena of the Italian League before the 2016-17 season and averaged 19.3 points per game there. The 6-foot-4 guard played the following year in Brussels and the next in Biella, Piedmont.
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