Tennessee basketball: Rick Byrd Wooden honor a reminder of huge Vols blunder

It’s official. Mike Hamilton passed up on a legend to be Tennessee basketball’s head coach in 2011 when he didn’t hire Rick Byrd. Don’t take my word for it. Take the word of the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award.

Byrd, who retired with over 700 wins, has been announced as the recipient of that award for 2022. He joins the ranks of coaches like Dean Smith, Coach K, Roy Williams and even current UT head coach Rick Barnes.

This is all based on what Byrd did over 32 years with the Belmont Bruins, right up the road from Rocky Top. In 2011, when Tennessee basketball was in search of a new head coach, Byrd was the most obvious choice.

At that time, the Vols fan base was divided, as Hamilton had already made the controversial decision to fire Bruce Pearl for a violation that’s no longer even a violation. He could have staved off the decision by hiring Byrd, a graduate of UT, who was beloved and would bring some semblance of stability to the program.

Byrd had just led Belmont to a 30-win season, an NCAA Tournament appearance and its second straight Atlantic Sun regular season title. It was his fifth Atlantic Sun title and fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in six years. The program hadn’t even been 15 years removed from being in the NAIA.

Hamilton, the king of questionable hires, went another route and hired Cuonzo Martin. All Byrd did was make two more NCAA Tournament appearances at lowly Belmont in 2012 and 2013, including winning the Ohio Valley Conference his first year there in 2012-2013. Over his final 14 years, he made eight NCAA Tournaments, and every senior class made at least one.

Whatever you think of Martin, and I tend to think he actually did a good job, he had not yet even made the NCAA Tournament in three years with the Missouri State Bears when he was hired, which were on a higher level than Belmont. On top of that, the move further divided the fan base.

For anybody concerned about age, and Hamilton may have been, Byrd was 58 at the time. In coaching, that’s plenty young to have a solid career. Heck, if he just retired when he did, that would have meant an eight-year career with Tennessee basketball? Do you know how much a coach can accomplish in eight years? He probably would have stayed longer anyway.

Three years later, Martin was gone, and Dave Hart made the same mistake Hamilton made by passing up on Byrd to go the young and energetic route with Donnie Tyndall. A year later, Tyndall was fired, just like Pearl, for recruiting violations.

Unlike Hamilton, though, Hart learned his lesson. He went for experience and stability, and that might have involved bringing Byrd in, but Barnes was then on the market. Given Barnes’ track record and history with the area, it made sense to hire him.

It’s sad to think about what Byrd would have become with Tennessee basketball, but Hamilton, who also settled when it came to hires, had to go the conventional route and find his own young up and comer. Passing on Byrd was one of many horrendous hiring decisions he made, and while it’s not the worst, it was a missed opportunity.