Rick Barnes was fired by Texas over the weekend and is reportedly nearing a deal to be the next head basketball coach at Tennessee.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure and that appears to be the case with Rick Barnes who was unceremoniously fired after 17 seasons and 16 NCAA Tournament appearances with Texas and is reportedly finalizing a deal to be the head coach with at Tennessee.
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Barnes is expected to finalize his deal and be the the Vols third head coach in as many years, according to Chip Brown of Horns Digest and Jerry Meyer of 247Sports.
Meyer writes that the deal could be made official by the end of Monday.
“It’s gonna happen sooner than later,” said one source. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an agreement in principle by the end of tonight.”
Brown writes the deal could take until the end of the week for it to be finalized.
In any event, Barnes will replace Donnie Tyndall who was fired after one season with Tennessee. He is being investigated by the NCAA for rules violations stemming from his time at Southern Mississippi.
Texas and Barnes mutually agreed to part ways on Sunday after he refused to make changes to his assistant coaching staff at the request of Texas athletic director Steve Patterson, and it turns out Barnes isn’t being penalized for being loyal to his assistants.
Barnes is the all-time wins leader at Texas with a 402-180 career record and led the team to five Sweet Sixteen Appearances and a Final Four in 2003. His last seven years hasn’t been as fruitful with nary a single appearance in the Sweet Sixteen, including a first round exit this year as a No. 11 seed following a sub-500 record in the Big 12.
This has to be viewed as a home run hire for Tennessee who gets some stability at the head coaching position after the failed hire of Tyndall who replaced Cuonzo Martin who replaced Bruce Pearl.
The Vols not only get a veteran coach without the NCAA looking into his past, but they also get a coach who has made it to a Final Four and has made the NCAA Tournament in 16 of the last 17 seasons.
Think that type of consistency will play well on Rocky Top?
Tennessee reached the Sweet Sixteen under Martin in 2014 but went 16-16 in the first and last year under Tyndall and failed to reach the Tournament.
How would you grade the impending hire of Barnes at Tennessee?
Do you think Texas will regret firing him?
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