MOBILE, Ala. — The message from Bruce Pearl in Mobile on Wednesday had little to do with basketball. Speaking at the University of South Alabama, the former Auburn men’s basketball coach told the audience that Alabama has played an outsized role in America’s relationship with Israel and urged support for the U.S. Israel Education Association, a nonprofit he helps lead.
Pearl, who serves on the organization’s board of directors, spoke about the group’s work bringing members of Congress to Israel and described how his own priorities have shifted from winning basketball games to what he called a larger mission. Mobile Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis, former Mayor Sandy Stimpson and University of South Alabama President Jo Bonner were among those in the room.
What the USIEA does
The U.S. Israel Education Association, known as USIEA, is a Birmingham-based nonprofit whose stated mission is to improve U.S.-Israel relations by fostering educational discussions between bipartisan government leaders and industry experts from both countries. The group works closely with members of Congress and encourages collaboration between the United States and Israel.
Pearl said a central part of that work is taking congressional leaders to Israel and teaching them about the Jewish roots of their Christian faith. He said lawmakers return from those trips with a different understanding of why they support Israel.
“They come back to Congress, and they don’t just support Israel because it’s politically the right thing to do or because that’s their aircraft carrier in the Middle East. They do it because they’re biblically commanded to.”
He encouraged those in attendance to make the trip themselves. “Seeing is believing,” Pearl said.
From the bench to a ‘bigger mission’
Pearl spent more than a decade as Auburn’s head coach, leading the Tigers to the Final Four in 2019 and again in 2025, and he previously coached at Tennessee, among other stops. He told the Mobile audience that his faith and his experiences growing up shaped the way he now views his purpose.
Pearl said that as a Jewish boy growing up in Boston, he saw discrimination firsthand. He said he loved coaching basketball as his career took him around the country, but that at some point he realized he had a bigger mission. Rather than another college team, he said, he began to see his opponent as anyone who hated the United States.
“I began to wake up every morning not thinking about beating Kentucky or Tennessee or even Alabama,” Pearl said. “I started thinking about whether the American dream was going to be available for my children and grandchildren, my Jewish children and grandchildren.”
He described his priorities in order. “I recognized that I love my country first and foremost. I love my family, I love my faith, I love my Jewish ancestral homeland, I love Auburn, I love the state of Alabama and I love basketball. But it kind of was going in that order,” he said.
Mobile’s place in the story
Pearl spent part of his remarks highlighting Alabama’s role in what he called the Jewish journey, and Mobile’s in particular. He credited a well-known local family with helping to launch the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Washington-based organization commonly known as AIPAC that lobbies in support of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.
“AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) was born partially in Mobile, Alabama, by the Mitchell family,” Pearl said.
The Mitchell name is a familiar one in Mobile and on the South Alabama campus, where the Mitchell College of Business and the Mitchell Cancer Institute carry the family’s name.
Pearl defended AIPAC’s political giving, describing its supporters as ordinary citizens backing a cause they believe in.
“I can’t think of another group of American citizens who donate money in the election process or in support of senators or congressmen or governors. Can you think of anybody else? These are just simply Jewish Americans, Jewish, Christian Americans donating to support a strong US-Israel relationship,” he said.
Pearl said it is tragic when politicians announce that they will not accept AIPAC money, calling Israel “a great ally.”
Political spending by pro-Israel organizations has drawn attention in this year’s elections, including in Alabama, where a pro-Israel Democratic political action committee has announced plans to spend in the 2nd Congressional District race. Some candidates nationally have said they will decline support from AIPAC, a position Pearl criticized on Wednesday.
Local leaders weigh in
Cheriogotis greeted Pearl and Stimpson at the event and said he hopes to expand the connection between Mobile and its sister city of Ariel, Israel. Sister-city relationships are formal partnerships between communities in different countries, typically built around cultural, educational and economic exchanges.
Stimpson, who served as Mobile’s mayor from 2013 to 2025, also sits on the USIEA board of directors alongside Pearl.
Bonner, a former congressman who represented Alabama’s 1st Congressional District before becoming president of South Alabama, thanked attendees for coming and emphasized the importance of focusing on the work the USIEA is doing.
About the speaker
- Who: Bruce Pearl, former Auburn men’s basketball coach and USIEA board member
- Where: University of South Alabama, Mobile
- When: Wednesday, Oct. 28
- Organization: U.S. Israel Education Association, a Birmingham-based nonprofit focused on U.S.-Israel relations
- Also present: Mobile Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis, former Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson and South Alabama President Jo Bonner
