One of his goals is to establish a yearly trip to the Middle East, calling it the Abraham Accords Cup. “How can we contribute to peace in the Middle East?” Pearl asks. “Through normalization.” Although a Muslim group urged Auburn to nix this year’s trip, the coach refused—and took his team to eat at the home of the Palestinian national team’s head coach.
“The greatest way to understand Israel and the amazing place it has become is to see it for yourself,” says Pearl. “Seeing is believing.” The competition was intense, too. “They love their basketball in Israel, and they’re good,” he adds.
On TikTok, Christian author Zach Windahl shares some highlights from Auburn’s Holy Land trip. “To see God move among players in this way is nothing short of a miracle,” he says. “Praise God!”
