Rick Barnes March Madness failures: Tennessee coach's tournament record, notable upsets

Few college basketball coaches have been more successful as a program builder than Tennessee's Rick Barnes. Over the course of a 37-year coaching career Barnes has racked up over 800 wins and taken four different teams to the NCAA Tournament across four of the six power conferences.

Despite his incredible longevity, Barnes has only reached the Final Four once, all the way back in 2003 with Texas. Is Barnes another great regular season coach who has trouble getting the job done in the one-and-done format of the NCAA Tournament?

Rick Barnes' NCAA Tournament History

Barnes has compiled a 27-26 record in the NCAA Tournament, which feels quite low given the volume of appearances he's had in March Madness. Texas went to 14 straight NCAA Tournaments between 1999 and 2012 but the Longhorns wanted more out of their March Madness runs, firing him in 2015 after a first-round exit.

Tennessee hired Barnes immediately afterward and he quickly built a powerhouse with the Volunteers, reaching the NCAA Tournament in his third year and going back every year since. The trend of underachieving has continued with the Volunteers, however, as Barnes hasn't gotten past the Sweet 16 since 2008.

Rick Barnes' Notable NCAA Tournament Failures

The easiest way to quantify Barnes' March Madness failures is by the amount of times his teams have failed to get out of the first weekend. Barnes has gone home before the Sweet 16 19 times, including 12 first-round exits.

While the sheer volume of early exits is disappointing, there have also been some big upsets in the mix as well. The Volunteers have gone out to lower seeds in each of Barnes' five NCAA Tournament appearances with them, including three defeats against double-digit seeds (Loyola Chicago in 2018, Oregon State in 2021 and Michigan in 2022) and a fourth to 9-seed Florida Atlantic in the Sweet 16 last year.

With another high seed in the cards for the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Barnes will be under pressure to take Tennessee on a deep run this March. If the Volunteers get upset again the heat may start to crank up under his seat with Tennessee.

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