Rick Barnes thread (merged) (expected to be named TN coach 3/30 4:00pm)

Would a Rick Barnes hire make you happy?

  • Total voters
    0
  • Poll closed .
#276
#276
BowlBrother85 said:
Just to expand on your very good points a little further, in 1970-71 Tennessee (with Jimmy England) spent the entire season ranked in the top 20 (finished #17 in the AP) and with a 21-7 overall record and 13-5 in the SEC (2nd place) but did not make the NCAA tournament. The NIT was a big deal at the time and they made the final four. Times have changed with the field expansion and that is never taken into account on here when VN wants to bash our history in basketball.
Click to expand...

It is a tepid defense for Hart: you can screw up basketball because it doesn't matter.

When your basketball program routinely finishes in the Top 10 in attendance and generates revenue on a Top 15 level, it damn sure matters.

This program is a golden egg for a quality athletic director with the ambition and drive to recognize what he has in Knoxville with this fanbase.

What we have now is a man who would rather pick fights with the softball coaches than spend time evaluating a basketball coach.

It shows.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 people
#280
#280
T.N. Buckingham said:
We go through coaches in that manner because leadership has categorically failed. That isn't a condemnation of Tennessee basketball history or its fanbase. That is an indictment of the likes of Dickey, Hammy, and Hart who have routinely failed basketball in the modern era.

You are judging this program's past based in large part on the lack of tournament appearances. That is a false standard because many of those teams were not afforded the opportunity to make the NCAA field as it is now constituted.

When you make that judgement, you discount the work done here in the past by the likes of Mears and Mauer. Emmett Lowery won 60% of his games here. At least 5 of his teams would have made the tournament with the rules as they are today.

When Mauer was at work at Tennessee, there were only 8 teams that could make the NCAA tournament. Two out of Ray Mears' three NCAA tournament appearances came in his last two years in charge at Tennessee. That was under the 32-team format that only came in existence in 1975.

We should be a perennial Top 10-20 program in basketball. We have a demonstrated history of fielding good basketball programs. With competent leadership demonstrating consistent support for basketball, we could attract top-level coaches to Tennessee.

Where leadership fails, you will find it difficult to attract quality people in any field.

The basketball profession has little faith in Dave Hart. We are going to have to overcome that liability.
Click to expand...

I'll ask you this. Is Tennessee a football school or a basketball school. Then I'll ask you if Kansas is a football school or a basketball school? And why for both?
 
#281
#281
T.N. Buckingham said:
It is a tepid defense for Hart: you can screw up basketball because it doesn't matter.

When your basketball program routinely finishes in the Top 10 in attendance and generates revenue on a Top 15 level, it damn sure matters.

This program is a golden egg for a quality athletic director with the ambition and drive to recognize what he has in Knoxville with this fanbase.

What we have now is a man who would rather pick fights with the softball coaches than spend time evaluating a basketball coach.

It shows.
Click to expand...
I agree and Dave hart will get the boot if he doesn't produce on this hire and I understand the tradition but the only boosters at UT to keep happy are the ones who keep football going.(Dave harts logic). It's sad but true
 
#282
#282
JMSqb11 said:
It is Volnation. Where coaches that may be candidates are not allowed to be upset in a tournament at all.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of the posts about not wanting Butch because he lost to Dooley. Furthermore, we should pass on Bill Self because Kansas has lost in first weekend of tourney before with NBA players. Cal stinks too because he missed tourney with lottery picks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#284
#284
BowlBrother85 said:
I would much prefer this to another mid-major. You have a good idea of what you're getting with a hire like this.
Click to expand...

Sure you do. It would be like Butch Jones resigning out of nowhere, and we replaced him with Mack Brown. (Or Phil Fulmer, except we can't do that since he was ours to start with.)

Hiring Barnes would have been a great idea 15 years ago. He's past his prime as a coach now, and he'd be facing a major rebuilding effort at Tennessee. If he leaves Texas on his own or by being pushed, the only way you'll ever see Barnes in another NCAA Tournament will be if he latches on at some mid-major and starts luring transfers because he's still a name, like Tom Penders did after he left Texas.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#285
#285
Anyone on here who wouldn't want Barnes as our coach, I feel sorry for you. He's got a great resume and knows how to win ball games. Honestly I'm tired of losing and you can't win ball games if you don't have a good coach. You'd be stupid to turn Barnes down if he wanted the Tennessee job.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 people
#286
#286
VolGee4 said:
You gamble with a young coach. .
Click to expand...

I didn't say young. I said an up and comer, ala Bruce Pearl. That hire worked out pretty well for the Vols - while it lasted. Besides that, I don't want any castoffs from little ut.
 
Last edited:
#287
#287
VolFreakJosh said:
Anyone on here who wouldn't want Barnes as our coach, I feel sorry for you. He's got a great resume and knows how to win ball games. Honestly I'm tired of losing and you can't win ball games if you don't have a good coach. You'd be stupid to turn Barnes down if he wanted the Tennessee job.
Click to expand...

You're tired of losing? Until they went 16-16 this year with a team that had no right to even be that good, they had nine straight winning seasons, including two 24-win seasons, a 28-win season, and a 31-win season. When was all of this "losing" that you are so "tired" of? Did you fall asleep for a decade, wake up tonight and think we just fired Buzz Peterson?

Texas is firing Barnes because his teams underachieve. If that's acceptable to you, you must have loved Jerry Green. He won a lot of games, after all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people
#288
#288
jsc1973 said:
You're tired of losing? Until they went 16-16 this year with a team that had no right to even be that good, they had nine straight winning seasons, including two 24-win seasons, a 28-win season, and a 31-win season. When was all of this "losing" that you are so "tired" of? Did you fall asleep for a decade, wake up tonight and think we just fired Buzz Peterson?

Texas is firing Barnes because his teams underachieve. If that's acceptable to you, you must have loved Jerry Green. He won a lot of games, after all.
Click to expand...

Other than Barnes, who in the hell do you think could do any better? We all know Hart ain't going to let go of the money to get someone like Marshall. Heck he may not even let go of the money to get someone like Barnes either. Do you want to be like Hart and go the cheap route and go get some mid major coach like Tyndall was? How did that end up turning out? I think you also forgot that those seasons are in the past now. I don't care if we won 50 games last season or the season before that. What's done is done and what's now is now. If you consider 16-16 a magical season, then I don't know what to tell you. Barnes has been to the NCAA tournament, he's a great recruiter, and knows how to win ball games. Something that Tennessee basketball desperately needs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#289
#289
We could, and probably will do much worse than hiring Barnes. At this point, and past history of hires, I'd be satisfied with this hire. There's good young coaches available, but if you can't recruit at a high level, it isn't going to matter.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#290
#290
I don't know what to say about Barnes. I'm somewhat on the fence with him, but history has shown that a simple change of scenery is sometimes what a coach or athlete needs to get that edge back.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people
#291
#291
Barnes would be a homerun hire. He's a program builder.
Question is; Is Hart embarrassed enough to spend the close to 5 mil needed to buy his contract and pay him?

Nah.
 
#292
#292
jsc1973 said:
You're tired of losing? Until they went 16-16 this year with a team that had no right to even be that good, they had nine straight winning seasons, including two 24-win seasons, a 28-win season, and a 31-win season. When was all of this "losing" that you are so "tired" of? Did you fall asleep for a decade, wake up tonight and think we just fired Buzz Peterson?

Texas is firing Barnes because his teams underachieve. If that's acceptable to you, you must have loved Jerry Green. He won a lot of games, after all.
Click to expand...

Under achieving in the NCAA tourney every season under Pearl was hard for you?
 
#294
#294
Special Ed said:
I didn't say young. I said an up and comer, ala Bruce Pearl. That hire worked out pretty well for the Vols - while it lasted. Besides that, I don't want any castoffs from little ut.
Click to expand...

The "up and comers" being suggested all have much less of a resume than Pearl. Pearl had experience as a head coach in D2. Wade, Holtmann, and Underwood all have less than 4 years of head coaching experience. Kind of like Cuonzo Martin. That's why I am suggesting more experience.
 
#295
#295
UT cannot afford another coaching experiment and the majority of the names being mentioned are just that. We have pulled ONE rabbit out of the hat since Devoe.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 3 people
#296
#296
bnhunt said:
Won't need to - the other UT is canning him.
Click to expand...
Why would we hire another program's sloppy seconds? Can anyone name a BB coach who was fired from any program being successful at a new school?
 
#298
#298
jdogvol said:
Why would we hire another program's sloppy seconds? Can anyone name a BB coach who was fired from any program being successful at a new school?
Click to expand...

He isn't technically being fired. It's like a Cutcliffe situation at Ole Miss. They will keep him if he makes staff changes, and he may not do it. Cutcliffe has worked out ok for Duke.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#300
#300
Barnes will leave the Texas program in a state of stability and ready for the right coach to take them to the next level.
We need that kind of stability at TN.
Get back to being an NCAA frequenter and our next step would be the same.
It's time to stop rolling the dice with quick flash in the pan hopefuls and start building a program.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top