List of Coaching Candidates for Vols Basketball

Feb 4, 2015; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Rick Barnes reacts from the sidelines against the Oklahoma State Cowboys during the first half at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

Rick Barnes, Texas Longhorns (formerly)

Record: 604-314 overall in 28 seasons, 402-180 in 17 seasons at Texas

Conference Titles: 3 regular season, 1 tournament

NCAA Tournament Appearances: 22

Salary: $2.55 million

The most recent update to the coaching candidate list, Rick Barnes, 59, was just fired as the head coach of the Texas Longhorns where he went to the NCAA Tournament 16 times in his 17 seasons.

Barnes started his coaching career at George Mason in 1987 where he spent one season as head coach, going 20-10. He then took over at Providence, leading the Friars to 3 NCAA Tournament appearances in 6 seasons as their head coach. In 1994, Barnes became Clemson’s head coach and led them 3 NCAA Tournament berths in 4 seasons, including a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 1997.

After the 1997-98 season, Barnes landed the Texas job, where he would stay for the next 17 seasons. The Longhorns won at least 20 games 15 of the 17 years Barnes was head coach, and he led the Longhorns to a Final Four appearance in 2003. Overall, the Longhorns made it to the Sweet Sixteen twice and the Elite Eight twice, most recently in 2008.

Since that 2008 Elite Eight, however, the Longhorns have failed to make it back to the Sweet Sixteen. In fact, in the 7 seasons since then, the Longhorns only finished better than 3rd in the Big 12 once, and Barnes has only gone 66-54 in conference play in that time. Overall, his Longhorns have only gone 155-87 the last 7 seasons compared to 247-93 in his first 10 seasons.

Barnes would definitely be the most high-profile hire the Vols could realistically make. Since he was just recently fired, his intentions are probably the least known. But his age might be a bit of a deterrent as a long-term hire, and his salary at Texas ($2.55 million) is the most expensive of the potential candidates on this list. But more and more steam is building behind his name, and he looks like a potential frontrunner at this point.