Barnes one of four finalists for Naismith Coach of Year

[VEKZY]

Source Article

The third-year Tennessee coach joins Tony Bennett, Jay Wright and Chris Holtmann as finalists for the Naismith Trophy for Men's College Coach of the Year.

After winning just 31 games over his first two seasons at Tennessee, Barnes has led the Vols to a 25-8 record this season, a share of the SEC regular-season championship and a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Tennessee was ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 for the final 15 weeks of the season, is rated No. 8 in the NCAA RPI and played for the SEC Tournament championship for the first time since 2009.

 

[TJ1985]

That's a solid final 4. Well deserved.

 

[Lurker]

It feels good to see Tennessee's basketball coach in a conversation with the coaches from basketball powers like Villanova, OSU and UVa. Well deserved is right!

 

[JCP201]

Regardless of what happens in this tournament, it is an honor to have such a wonderful role model and great coach at Tennessee. Hopefully he will be well compensated plus his assistants, so he doesn't have to pay them out of his own pocket.

 

[VolPack22]

The only guy I would be ok with besides Barnes getting it is Bennett. Virginia wasn’t even ranked to start the season and ended up being the best team in the country. Unbelievable.

 

[OneVolNation]

Barnes definitely deserves it.

 

[scottchatt]

Bennett or Barnes for sure. Both great coaches getting a lot out of their teams. It honestly could come down to who goes further in the tournament. Barnes needs the most help from a run in my opinion, UVA has just had way more media attention than UT.

 

[golfballs]

Certainly 4 of the most deserving. I think Wright deserves credit for the way he’s built that program. And he’s never won the award. But in terms of pure coaching it has to be Barnes IMO

 

[jsc1973]

The only guy I would be ok with besides Barnes getting it is Bennett. Virginia wasn’t even ranked to start the season and ended up being the best team in the country. Unbelievable.

This.

If this is just an award for the 2017-18 season, then the only guy who has a case over Barnes is Bennett. One guy took an unranked team and went 31-2 and No. 1 in the country, and the other took a team picked 13th in the SEC and won it.

 

[OneVolNation]

This.

If this is just an award for the 2017-18 season, then the only guy who has a case over Barnes is Bennett. One guy took an unranked team and went 31-2 and No. 1 in the country, and the other took a team picked 13th in the SEC and won it.

Barnes over Bennett and not even close.

Virginia was ranked #24 in the AP poll with over 20 wins
23-11 and tied for the 3rd best record in their conference last year.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

21 Tennessee coaches
Age @ hiring / name / w/l % at TN

29 Zora Clevenger .781 (1911-1916)
37 John Mauer .759 (1938-1947)
37 Ray Mears .713 (1962-1977)
33 Blair Gullian .712 (1935-1938)
54 Jerry Green .712 (1997-2001)
45 Bruce Pearl .704 (2005-2011)
34 John "Chief" Bender .659 (1916-1921)
38 Mark Banks .612 (1921-1926)
35 Emmett Lowery .606 (1947-1958)
40 Cuonzo Martin .606 (2011-2014)
37 Don Devoe .598 (1978-1989)
61 Rick Barnes .570 (2015-2018)
34 WH Britton .523 (1926-1935)
38 Buzz Peterson .508 (2001-2005)
44 Donnie Tyndall .500 (2014-2015)
25 Alex Stone .437 (1910-1911)
37 Kevin O'Neill .434 (1994-1997)
45 Wade Houston .419 (1989-1994)
49 Cliff Wettig .407 (1977-1978)
42 John Sines .366 (1958-1962)
00 RH Fitzgerald .250 (1917-1919)

Sources:

http://www.coachesdatabase.com/tennessee-volunteers-basketball/

utsports.com

Wikipedia

 

[JCP201]

With the Virginia loss, Barnes really could win this thing. So much good happening right now. I've got battered VOL syndrome, and all this is hard to believe. Fingers crossed, knock on wood.