Auburn's Bruce Pearl A Vocal Leader Of A Trio Of Jewish Coaches With Teams At The Final Four

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."