AUBURN | Steven Pearl stared at a business card, his own business card, incredulously last week.

The card didn't want to leave its spot alongside 500 duplicates. That's because this box was fresh from the press — received just a few hours earlier as a standard yet oddly affirming step for anyone accepting a new job at Auburn University.

"Assistant coach" Pearl said with mock approval. "It's weird to see that in print."

Pearl, 29, landed his first full-time coaching gig earlier this month when his father, head coach Bruce Pearl, promoted him after serving two years as the Tigers' director of basketball operations. It was a surprising step in that Auburn, now making its way toward the Southeastern Conference's upper division, is the kind of program that can attract some of the most talented, experienced, proven coaches around.

Yet Bruce Pearl said he never wavered in his belief that Steven Pearl was the best candidate for the job.

Sounds crazy, right?

Steven Pearl knows what you're thinking. He knows because he's heard the same skepticism so many times. He heard it in 2007 as a freshman walk-on at Tennessee, then coached by his father, and appeared in 19 games. He heard it throughout the next three seasons, which saw Steven Pearl blossom into a trusted reserve with a mean streak.

He heard it when he was hired initially at Auburn as a strength coach.

He heard it again upon promotion into the operations role.

And here we are again.

"I've gotten that my whole life and that's fine. I understand why people who don't know me, don't know Coach, think I'm getting something I shouldn't get," Steven Pearl said. "But he's never given me anything when it comes to basketball. He treated me worse than anybody when I was a player. I had to work my way up. I had to prove myself. That's what I'd say now: Let me prove my loyalty, how hard I'll work, how many hours I'll put in. I've been doing it and I'll keep doing it."

What will Steven Pearl bring to the Auburn coaching staff without one single season of coaching experience to his credit?

Answering that question requires a review of his life to this point. He was an all-state player at West High School in Knoxville, Tenn., and chose a walk-on spot with the Volunteers over opportunities in the Ivy League and Division II. Steven Pearl's arrived at UT with dreams of becoming a celebrated scorer.

That dream died quickly.

"I didn't play any defense," Steven Pearl said with a laugh. "Thinking I'd be a scorer in the SEC was a terrible idea."

So he re-designed his body and his game by gaining 35 pounds of muscle between his freshman and sophomore seasons. Steven Pearl made hustle his currency and dused game time to grab loose balls, draw fouls, rebound with aggression, annoy opposing players.

"I wanted to be the guy other teams hated and my team wanted around," he said. "I think I accomplished that."

As a senior, Steven Pearl set career highs for minutes per game (11.2), points per game (1.9), rebounds per game (1.6) steals per game (0.6) and drew eight charges.

He demonstrated the kind of selflessness that he'll now ask of Auburn's players. He's lived through Bruce Pearl's unusually spirited tirades. He's failed and felt the wrath. He's played in this offensive system, carved out a niche within it, and can relay first-hand information to help current players manage its complexities.

"As a player, I was a less-is-more guy — and I took a lot of pride in that," Steven Pearl said. "We need a little toughness here (at Auburn). If I can bring that aspect to things when I’m coaching, I think that can help a lot. I know what it's like for them."

Steven Pearl feels like he's ready to help right away.

He didn't feel that way a year ago.

Bruce Pearl searched for an assistant coach last spring after Todd Golden left for University of San Francisco. He chose Chad Dollar from Georgia Tech — and never seriously considered his son for the position. Dollar's strong recruiting ties to Atlanta yielded some major dividends when forward Chuma Okeke, a four-star forward from the eastern Atlanta suburbs, signed with Auburn during the fall.

Dollar was the right man for the job then. Nobody knew that better than Steven Pearl, who says he learned a lot from Dollar before he left for a job at South Florida in March.

"He really helped us solidify Chuma, which is something I wouldn't have been able to do," he said. "Now that we’re in a good spot in recruiting, I can transition into this role and get my feet wet on the floor and get my network built up in recruiting."

Steven Pearl knows there will be struggles. Bruce Pearl is a demanding coach, a demanding person whose ebullient personality often hides an unyielding desire to succeed. Auburn won't win every game. It won't sign every prospect it wants.

Every player won't live up to every expectation every day.

Yet Steven Pearl says the past decade spent living in the spotlight alongside his father has prepared him for this next step — the good and the bad.

"It’s easier working for him than it was playing for him. If he’s ever coming to get upset with me, it’s nothing I haven’t heard before. Look, if Coach says I’m ready then I’m ready. He knows better than anybody. He could have gone out and gotten a big-name coach, but he thought this was the right move. I’m going to trust that move and work every day to pay him back for it."