Tennessee basketball: Rick Barnes detractors forget why he was hired

When Tennessee basketball hired Rick Barnes, they didn’t hire an unknown commodity. Barnes had just been fired by the Texas Longhorns after an underachieving season that involved a first-round NCAA Tournament exit despite returning every starter from the previous year’s NCAA Tournament team and adding a five-star, Myles Turner in that case.

At that time, Barnes had not made it past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament in seven years. He had already coached two previous teams, Texas in 2009-2010 and the Clemson Tigers in 1997-1998, that returned a ton of talent, added multiple elite recruits and reached No. 1 at one point, only to lose in the first round of the Big Dance.

Simply put, a look at his track record shows that Tennessee basketball fans should not be surprised by him suffering a first-round exit with two five-stars, the addition of another elite transfer and the return of an All-SEC scorer and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year. That came with the hire. So why did Dave Hart make the decision in the first place?

The answer is clear: Stability. Barnes was not hired on his potential to turn the Vols into the Duke Blue Devils, North Carolina Tar Heels or Kentucky Wildcats. He wasn’t even hired to be Bruce Pearl. UT hired him specifically to bring stability to the program.

On that front, Barnes has delivered. In 2021-2022, he will be entering his seventh year as head coach of the program. No coach since Don DeVoe left in 1989has lasted more than six years on Rocky Top. In fact, it’s been a revolving door for many reasons.

Wade Houston and Buzz Peterson were fired due to lack of production. Kevin O’Neill and Cuonzo Martin left for other opportunities. Jerry Green had one of the best four-year runs in school history but resigned under pressure after he was a PR fiasco. Pearl and Donnie Tyndall faced recruiting violations and nearly put the program on probation. This was all over a 26-year period.

Tyndall was fired after just one year and a week before Hart hired Barnes. Don’t underestimate what the Vols were facing at the time. The guy received a 10-year show-cause penalty from the NCAA, and this was only four years after UT was forced to fire Pearl. This program was in deep trouble and needed stability above all else.

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Hart’s goal had to be to find Tennessee basketball a coach who could win, who wasn’t going to have a checkered past when it came to recruiting and who wouldn’t leave for another job. Barnes was the only person who fit the criteria.

Six years later, he has led the Vols to their longest reign in school history at No. 1, their second 30-win season ever, their second SEC regular season championship over the past 20 years and each of the past three NCAA Tournament appearances, including one Sweet 16. And that comes after him inheriting a huge mess.

Sure, there will be underachieving seasons like this past year. There was also the flirtation of him leaving for the UCLA Bruins. However, the Vols had the resources to keep him around, and him being from Hickory, N.C. makes UT a special place for him. He won’t just leave them for any job the way DeVoe, O’Neill and Martin did.

Anybody who knows Tennessee basketball’s history knows that they can’t ask for more than a coach who will keep them in the NCAA Tournament on a yearly basis, will keep them out of trouble and won’t leave for another job. That’s exactly what Barnes is delivering.

If the price for that is coming up short in big games or seeing five-stars come in and be part of underachieving teams that inexplicably don’t make a deep run or win championships, so be it. This program could do a heck of a lot worse.

Vol fans should be thankful for Barnes. He has brought more consistency and stability to Tennessee basketball than any coach since Ray Mears, and he’s got the Vols nationally relevant on a consistent basis. That’s more than you could ask for given this program’s history.