Rick Barnes isn’t getting any younger. That shouldn’t concern Tennessee Basketball fans. He’s at the top of his game.
In case you missed it, Barnes’ crew reeled in a boatload of postseason awards this week. Guard Chaz Lanier was named the top newcomer in the SEC while guard Zakai Zeigler was named the top defensive player. Forward Jahmai Mashack was named the top defensive player in the nation by “Field of 68” and won the Torchbearer Award as one of the top overall students at Tennessee. That’s more hardware than you’ll find at a Home Depot.
Barnes, who turned 70 last summer, also helped Dalton Knecht become one of the top players in the nation last season. He was Player of the Year in the SEC and finished second in the country across most services for that award.
With Lanier and Knecht, Barnes proved deft at managing the transfer portal by landing those players and helping them develop. NIL and the portal have only been around since 2021. One would think a younger coach would be better at handling the massive changes in college athletics. Nope, Barnes has done just fine.
The knock against Barnes is that he only has one Final Four on his resume and that he works his players too hard, which leads them to run out of gas when March rolls around. While that may be true, Tennessee should try to keep Barnes around until he’s 80-years-old. Why? As long as he keeps knocking on the door of the NCAA Tournament, he’ll eventually knock it down.
Barnes also has a quality that is well worth noting. He has class, which isn’t always the case with basketball coaches. Sure, Arkansas coach John Calipari has won a national championship, but is that really the look that Tennessee needs? He’s a mercenary through and through. Alabama coach Nate Oats had a player involved in a fatal shooting. That’s certainly not what Tennessee needs.
Every Tennessee Basketball fan will question Barnes if he doesn’t have more success in the NCAA Tournament this season. After all, it’s a tournament sport. All the awards and rankings don’t mean much if the Vols lose early in March Madness. However, there’s more to it than that.
Tennessee’s success in basketball means more to the university than just a few wins here and there. Basketball is a great way to land football recruits. Barnes’ style of play may not be the most exciting, but his success keeps the Vols on television and provides an entertaining event used to land football prospects. That’s worth its weight in gold.
Something tells me this may be Barnes’ last season at Tennessee even though he’s aged like fine wine. That’s not me reporting a possible retirement, it’s just a gut feeling. Barnes was emotional when he spoke about his senior class on senior day. Moreover, Zeigler is the kind of player that is easy to build around. Does Barnes want to rebuild his basketball team without such a key piece? Perhaps, but retirement makes a lot of sense.
If I’m Tennessee, I’m nipping that in the bud. I’d offer Barnes a lifetime contract that would keep him in orange until he did decide to retire. That may seem odd as Barnes is probably too old to build a program from the ground up. However, UCLA made a run at Barnes in 2019.
Think about that for a moment. One of the most storied programs in college basketball history wanted Tennessee’s coach. Unless I missed something, no one made a run at former UT coach Jerry Green or Buzz Peterson. Tennessee athletic director Danny White had better do everything he can to secure Barnes until he retires and then try to talk him out of it when that time comes.
I understand the frustration with Barnes, but this isn’t football. Barnes is a class act and a winner. A loss in March shouldn’t overshadow that.
