10 factors determining if Vols head coach Rick Barnes leaves for UCLA

3. Pressure to win

Rick Barnes has already been fired by a program that he took to the Final Four, secured its first ever No. 1 ranking, and made the NCAA Tournament 16 out of 17 years. Right now, his success on Rocky Top is all Vols fans could ever want.

Nobody expects regular top 10 finishes with Tennessee basketball. A consistent level of success is all they want. That means every four years, maybe three teams make the NCAA Tournament and one is a contender. But that’s the program at its very best.

If Barnes went to UCLA, though, his early success with the Texas Longhorns wouldn’t even be enough. This is a school that fired Ben Howland despite taking them to three straight Final Fours and a national championship game appearance.

After that, they fired Steve Alford, who had three Sweet 16 appearances in his first four years there and made it to the NCAA Tournament four out of five years. He was fired midway through his sixth year.

UCLA has a ridiculously high level of expectations, almost as if they want to recreate the days of John Wooden. This comes despite the fact that they have only one national championship since Wooden’s retirement, and that was under a head coach in Jim Harrick whom they fired due to violations. Harrick then got fired by the Georgia Bulldogs due to violations.

So the expectation to win is much higher than what may be feasible out there, and it’s a big risk for Barnes to take. The Vols have a major advantage here. What Barnes did this season is a historically great accomplishment by their standards, and it will satisfy them if his next four years on Rocky Top look exactly like the last four.