Tennessee Volunteers Hoops, Rick Barnes a Strong Pairing

The pairing of the Tennessee Volunteers basketball program and new head coach Rick Barnes is a good match.

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The timing couldn’t have been better, given the situation. Donnie Tyndall was fired by Tennessee AD Dave Hart on March 27, coinciding with the Rick Barnes release at Texas on March 30. When the dust settled on March 31, Barnes was named the head basketball coach at Tennessee. This literally proved the sports adage that an excellent coach would be “unemployed about 15 minutes.”

Barnes is coming home of sorts. He grew up in Hickory, N.C., about three hours from Knoxville. Now his career comes almost full circle as he was ultra-successful, cumulatively, at George Mason, Providence, Clemson, and Texas. He amassed 604 wins in 28 years at the four schools and posted an amazing 22 NCAA Tournament berths, six Sweet Sixteens, three Elite Eights and one Final Four in 2003.

On the flip side, he had been at Texas for 17 years and had a major run of NBA talent as he had 11 players drafted from 2006-2011, eight of those in the first round. However, not since 2011, when Cory Joseph, Jordan Hamilton, and Tristan Thompson landed in the first round, had there been a Longhorn in the draft.

Recruiting had taken a dive, the boosters had become restless, and maybe the length of Barnes’ run at Texas had caused his voice to wear out in the locker room. Over the last four years, Texas was 80-57, 1-3 in the NCAA Tournament in three appearances, and maybe most importantly, hadn’t advanced to the Sweet 16 since 2007-08.

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For Tennessee, there is no doubt that this is a hire that can take them back to the levels they were at during the Bruce Pearl era. Barnes represents an outstanding recruiter who can take the recruiting base back to the level of when Pearl was coach. He also equates to the SEC’s move toward hiring coaches who have been successful in other programs which have been mainstays in the NCAA Tournament.

After Pearl was unscrupulously given a three-year show cause by the NCAA for basically hosting a cookout where three high school juniors an their families were in attendance, Tennessee’s then-AD Mike Hamilton fired Pearl. The entire ordeal had the stench of a witch-hunt based on a violation of a minor NCAA rule and when the popular Pearl left, so did the interest in basketball.

Cuonzo Martin had a three-year run that ended with an Sweet 16 run to end the 2013-14 season; however, there was a hug Volunteer booster and fan-base that gathered a petition with over 30,00 names that asked for Martin’s resignation and the rehiring of Pearl. Obviously, Pearl would never undercut another coach and a remarriage to the Vols would be impossible. Martin, obviously feeling unwanted after the NCAA run, bolted for Cal, and Hart hired Tyndall.

Mar 19, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Rick Barnes gestures from the sidelines against the Butler Bulldogs during the second half in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at the CONSOL Energy Center. Butler won 56-48. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

In November, Tyndall admitted to deleting emails that were part of an NCAA investigation into the basketball program at Southern Miss, where he went 56-17 over a two-year span. All of that dealt with players who were deemed ineligible, but were given housing and meals during Tyndall’s reign in Hattiesburg, Once again, the smell of the NCAA wreaked as the plight of kids from tough environments were virtually ignored by the hypocrisy and indolence of the NCAA.

Going forward, Barnes possesses the stability and the recruiting acumen to get the Vols back into the upper echelon of the SEC and allow them to once again be a mainstay in the NCAA Tournament as they were under Pearl. In the last two weeks, Barnes has signed Canadian star Ray Kasongo, a 6-9, 235-pound power forward from Toronto. He also reeled in another Canadian power forward in 6-10 Kyle Alexander of Milton, Ontario.

Ironically, it was Hart that gave Barnes his first interview for a head coaching job at East Carolina in 1987. Barnes wasn’t hired for that job, but he has maintained his relationship with Hart over the past 28 years. Now, that long relationship has paid off for both Barnes and Volunteers basketball.

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