Do Vol fans really believe Rick Barnes is now too old to be the coach of Tennessee?
That appears to be a theory that is circulating after Tennessee lost two of its last three games by a total of three points, both on the road and one of them to the top-ranked team in the country. In Saturday night’s game against No. 1 Auburn, there was a late missed call that sent the announcers into orbit when Vol Felix Okpara was mugged by the Tigers defender but the official called walking on Okpara. I believe the ESPN commentator’s comment was “on no planet was that not a foul” or something very close to that. I’ve never been big on pointing to officials as the reason for a Tennessee loss, but they certainly appeared to be noticeably favoring the home team last night.
Now, back to the big question, is Barnes too old? Has the college game passed him by? I’m in the camp that believe Barnes is still a very effective college basketball coach at 70 years old. His team just weeks ago was perched at No. 1 in the country for five consecutive weeks. After 20 games, the Vols are 17-3 with one awful loss at Florida and with the other two losses by a total of three points. All three losses were on the road in very hostile SEC gyms.
Barnes so far has won 219 games at Tennessee while losing 103, a 68 percent rate. The Tennessee Basketball program has an overall winning percentage of 62 percent over a 116-year time period. Also, remember that Barnes took over the program after the Donnie Tyndall one and done train wreck. Since then, his Vol teams have made the NCAA tourney six straight years that the tourney was held, 2020 notwithstanding since the tourney was cancelled due to COVID and made the Sweet 16 twice and Elite Eight once.
Barnes is still recruiting at a high level, and he has proven to effectively utilize the transfer portal. Three of this season’s starters are first year transfers: Chaz Lanier, Felix Okpara and Igor Milicic Jr. The Vols have been dependent on Lanier for scoring and Okpara and Milicic for rebounding to-date.
Another first year transfer player, Darlinstone Dubar, has shown flashes this season but has lacked consistency. Tennessee signed two four-star recruits in November, Amari Evans and DeWayne Brown, and Barnes currently has Tennessee in the mix for a couple of five-star recruits.
The 70-year-old Barnes is still showing he can relate to and sign quality players for Tennessee. A reminder that this year’s Tennessee team is also missing 6’11” forward J.P. Estrella, who is out for the season with an injury. Anyone think he could’ve made a significant impact on last night’s game at AU as well as the Vanderbilt game last week?
I’m not sure what about last night’s game at Auburn was particularly concerning to Vol fans about Barnes’ age. I personally questioned the call of Ziegler taking the last shot, particularly since he was 0-6 from the arc for the night. Auburn blanketed Lanier, and the Vols’ other three-point shooter, Jordan Gainey, had fouled out. I thought the Vols would work the ball to get an open two and play for overtime, but that’s probably a good example of why I am not on the sideline coaching.
Even though I was surprised at the last shot call by Barnes, I don’t view his call as a sign of an old age problem. As should be obvious by now, I believe Barnes is still a very effective college basketball coach, and I hope he has continued success at Tennessee a long as he wants to continue coaching.
