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Report: Rick Barnes, Tennessee agree to deal

By Will Osgood

Jan 24, 2015; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Rick Barnes reacts against the Kansas Jayhawks during the first half at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 24, 2015; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Rick Barnes reacts against the Kansas Jayhawks during the first half at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports /
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Former Texas coach Rick Barnes is the new head coach at Tennessee. 

From burnt orange to bright orange Rick Barnes goes. From UT-Austin to UT-Knoxville, too. Rick Barnes will formally be named the new men’s basketball coach at Tennessee later Tuesday, just three days after being notified he was being fired by the University of Texas.

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The similarities between the two programs are trite. The differences, though, are vast. Austin is one of the wackier, crazier, more progressive and/or liberal cities in the nation (it’s in Texas, so how “liberal” can it be?). Knoxville may be wacky, but in a much different sense.

Both athletic programs are proud. But both favor the football side of the equation, while each has had more success in their history on the basketball floor with its women.

Yet Barnes has done something that Tennessee in its resurgence in the last decade in men’s basketball has been unable to do: get to a Final Four. Bruce Pearl was a miracle man when he came to Knoxville via the University Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Pearl could have run for governor in the State of Tennessee, or at least stayed in Knoxville the rest of his life, at least until the recruiting violation regarding Jordan Adams (who ended up at UCLA and is now back in Tennessee as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies) and cover-up which led to his dismissal as head coach.

Cuonzo Martin was another small school hire who worked for a time until he left for Cal-Berkeley after last season taking the Vols to an unexpected Sweet 16 appearance before losing to the Michigan Wolverines.

The Vols went to the well once more hoping another small school hire could fare as well. Donnie Tyndall was quickly embraced by Volunteers fans this season, who felt that Martin was a sellout. It turns out Tyndall was more soaked in the same cloth, though, of Pearl and Martin–to a smaller extent.

Tyndall got in trouble with the NCAA for his time at Southern Miss, where he and the program got ineligible players into the school illegally and paid for their education (likely) without their being cleared by the NCAA.

The Vols were quick to fire Tyndall after learning that he was likely to face serious penalties. Dave Hart, the athletic director for Tennessee, regrets having hired Tyndall in the first place, and said last week he would not have, if he’d known at the time these infractions were coming.

The good news for the Vols, though is two-fold. One, Rick Barnes is one of the classiest men in the game. Anything he may lack as a coach, he makes up for with character. Second, because of the timing they were able to hire Barnes, who is the right fit for the basketball program at this time.

But the good news extends beyond that. Barnes is a great recruiter who is 60, meaning he’s probably not going anywhere. He was extremely loyal to Texas, coaching there 17 years. It’s not unreasonable to think Barnes could steer the Vols program straight for 10 years.

He may not wear an orange suit like Pearl or Tyndall, but he does something more important.

Barnes brings stability to a program which has been through the ringer the past five years, yet still had a reasonable amount of success on the court. Maybe that stability can lead to even greater successes on the court for the Volunteers.

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