Tennessee Moves Swiftly To Bring Barnes Onboard

New Coach Says Calipari Told Him To Take Vols Job

  • Tuesday, March 31, 2015
  • Larry Fleming
Rick Barnes, former Texas coach, is now the men's basketball coach at Tennessee. Barnes signed a six-year, $2.25 million contract chocked full of lucrative incentives.
Rick Barnes, former Texas coach, is now the men's basketball coach at Tennessee. Barnes signed a six-year, $2.25 million contract chocked full of lucrative incentives.
photo by Tennessee Athletics

Former Texas men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes wasn’t out of work long.

Barnes, fired Saturday after 17 seasons with the Longhorns, has been hired as Tennessee’s new coach. 

“This is a great league and it’s only going to get better,” Barnes said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference to officially announce his hiring. “There was no doubt from that first conversation with (UT athletic director) Dave Hart that this was the place I wanted to be.

(Kentucky coach John) Calipari told me I should take the Tennessee job. I even talked to him today.

“Getting our staff in place with be of utmost importance. We have to get ready for recruiting, that’s the lifeblood of the program.”

Tennessee “terminated” Tyndall on Friday due to him “highly likely to be found responsible for serious violations of NCAA rules during his tenure” as coach at Southern Miss. Tyndall took over for Cuonzo Martin, who replaced Bruce Pearl, fired for his NCAA violations at Tennessee. Pearl is now coaching Auburn.

Pearl took the Vols to six straight NCAA tournaments from 2006-2011.

Hart moved quickly to bring Barnes to Knoxville. On Monday, news broke that Barnes and the Vols were close to a deal. On Tuesday morning, the deal was wrapped up and the Vols had their man.

Barnes has signed a six-year contract with a base salary of $2.25 million per year with incentives, including $50,000 for a regular season SEC title, $25,000 for an SEC tournament championship and $50,000 for an NCAA appearance, $100,000 for a Sweet 16, $150,000 for Elite Eight, $250,000 for a Final Four and $500,000 for a national title.

On the day he was fired, Barnes was asked if he would coach again.

Barnes responded: “Yeah, probably quicker than you think.”

The SEC is beefing up its men’s basketball coaching stature. Earlier this month Mississippi State hired Ben Howland, who made Pittsburgh a top-20 program and coached UCLA to three straight Final Fours from 2006-08.

Alabama is trying to lure Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall to Tuscaloosa and is reportedly offering the Shockers coach “the bank” to make that happen.

With Barnes’ hiring, Tennessee’s program has made a giant leap in credibility after several years of mediocrity after Pearl’s unceremonious departure – he lied to NCAA investigators, a rough ride with Martin, who left in the dead of night for California-Berkeley and Tyndall’s one season.

Barnes led the Longhorns to the NCAA tournament 16 times in his 17 years in Austin. Texas appeared in five Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights and one Final Four (under Barnes’ leadership.

The 60-year-old Barnes – he turns 61 in July – is the winningest coach in Longhorns history and has a 402-180 at Texas and 604-314 overall record. Before Texas, Barnes coached at George Mason, Providence and Clemson.

Former Texas men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes wasn’t out of work long.

Barnes, fired Saturday after 17 seasons with the Longhorns, has been hired as Tennessee’s new coach. A press conference in Knoxville will be held at 4 p.m. this afternoon to officially announce that Barnes is replacing one-and-done Donnie Tyndall.

“Rick Barnes is an elite basketball coach in every respect,” Hart said in a statement released by the university’s sports information department. “Rick brings an extremely impressive track record of excellence, as well as much-needed stability, to our men’s basketball program. This is an exciting day for our Tennessee family.

Tennessee “terminated” Tyndall on Friday due to him “highly likely to be found responsible for serious violations of NCAA rules during his tenure” as coach at Southern Miss. Tyndall took over for Cuonzo Martin, who replaced Bruce Pearl, fired for his NCAA violations at Tennessee. Pearl is now coaching Auburn.

Pearl took the Vols to six straight NCAA tournaments from 2006-2011.

Hart moved quickly to bring Barnes to Knoxville. On Monday, news broke that Barnes and the Vols were close to a deal. On Tuesday morning, the deal was wrapped up and the Vols had their man.

It has been reported that Tennessee also reached out to Butler coach Chris Holtmann, but those discussions were “preliminary” at best.

On the day he was fired, Barnes was asked if he would coach again.

Barnes responded: “Yeah, probably quicker than you think.”

The SEC is beefing up its men’s basketball coaching stature. Earlier this month Mississippi State hired Ben Howland, who made Pittsburgh a top-20 program and coached UCLA to three straight Final Fours from 2006-08.

Alabama is trying to lure Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall to Tuscaloosa and is reportedly offering the Shockers coach “the bank” to make that happen.

With Barnes’ hiring, Tennessee’s program has made a giant leap in credibility after several years of mediocrity after Pearl’s unceremonious departure – he lied to NCAA investigators, a rough ride with Martin, who left in the dead of night for California-Berkeley and Tyndall’s one season.

Barnes led the Longhorns to the NCAA tournament 16 times in his 17 years in Austin. Texas appeared in five Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights and one Final Four (under Barnes’ leadership.

The 60-year-old Barnes – he turns 61 in July – is the winningest coach in Longhorns history and has a 402-180 at Texas and 604-314 overall record. Before Texas, Barnes coached at George Mason, Providence and Clemson.

Barnes’ success on the "power conference" sidelines is simply staggering. He coached Providence to three NCAA Tournament berths in six seasons. He then guided Clemson to the Big Dance three times in four years. And his 16 NCAA appearances during his 17-season stint at Texas gives him 19 tournament berths in the last 20 years.

Dating to 1995, every four-year player Barnes has coached has made at least three trips to the NCAA Tournament.

Not only do his players find themselves perennially positioned to play for national championships, but they also carry themselves with a top-25 swagger. Over the last 17 years, Barnes' teams have spent 180 total weeks in the Associated Press Top 25, including 84 weeks in the Top 10. His Texas squad earned the program's first-ever No. 1 national ranking on Jan. 11, 2010. And he had previously coached Clemson to a No. 2 national ranking--the highest in that school's history--during the 1996-97 campaign.

On the flipside, Barnes has collected 96 career wins over Top-25 opponents. And his squads have toppled Top-10 teams a total of 34 times.

Nationally respected in player development, Barnes is the only coach in the nation that can claim two different National Players of the Year in the last 13 seasons (T.J. Ford in 2003 and Kevin Durant in 2007). Barnes also produced four consensus first-team All-Americans and three National Freshman of the Year honorees.

Barnes has produced 23 total NBA Draft picks, including 13 first-round selections. Durant -- who refers to Barnes as "more than a coach," but also a "father figure" -- was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. Durant has won an NBA Most Valuable Player Award, four NBA scoring titles, the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, and an Olympic gold medal.

A native of Hickory, N.C., Barnes was born on July 17, 1954. He was a standout player at Hickory High, from which he graduated in 1973. Barnes moved on to Lenoir-Rhyne College (Hickory, N.C.), where he lettered for three seasons and won the Captain's Award for Leadership as both a junior and senior.

(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)

 

 

 

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