Bruce Pearl show-cause

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl poses with students at Auburn Arena on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2014 in the minutes leading up to the end of the NCAA's 3-year show-cause penalty levied against the coach in 2011. (Brandon Marcello/bmarcello@al.com)

-- Bruce is loose.

Bruce Pearl

's three-year NCAA show-cause penalty ended early Sunday, and there to greet him minutes before his first full day of recruiting work were more than 50 Auburn students and fans outside Auburn Arena.

Pearl was surprised by the gathering, which was organized by fans on Twitter earlier in the day.

"March 18 was the night," Pearl told the crowd while holding back tears at 11:48 p.m. "That was the night when we got offered the grace and got a chance to come back and coach. I'm grateful. I'm humbled and blessed to be your coach."

Pearl, of course, also couldn't hold back from cracking a smile and dropping a few jokes as he counted down the seconds until he could pick up a cell phone and call recruits at midnight.

Pearl, with a leather briefcase in his left hand, thanked students for standing outside the arena instead of hitting the bar scene on a Saturday night -- the first full weekend on campus for students since the fall semster began last week. The students then followed him inside Auburn Arena, where they posed for a few photos with the coach.

"This has got to be a violation," Pearl said, cracking a joke. The students laughed as Pearl smiled.

As he walked down the steps back to the lobby, players walked out of the locker room. They slapped his back, exchanged hugs and celebrated in what amounted as an impromptu pep rally for their coach. The players surrounded their coach, jumped up and down and chanted along with the fans. Some fans rattled their orange and blue pom-pom shakers.

Pearl's show-cause penalty was the result of an NCAA investigation in 2011, which ended with investigators declaring Pearl had lied during questioning. His tenure at Tennessee ended in March of 2011, and the show-cause penalty followed.

"Free at last, free at last," Pearl shouted in the lobby of Auburn Arena Saturday night. "Thank God Almighty I'm free at last!"

Pearl was expected to visit with recruit Horace Spencer, a four-star guard out of Findlay Prep, in his office at 12:01 a.m., according to CBSSports.com.

As the midnight hour hit, Pearl walked toward the steps leading to his office on the second floor of Auburn Arena. He looked toward the crowd and offered a few parting words to his team.

"I've gotta go to work."