3rd Highest Paid Coach in the Country...

[revjayp]

... is Rick Barnes.

The thing that baffles me is we paid him what we did yet his tournament record is barely above .500 and he’s only made 1 final 4 appearance in his career. I like Barnes a lot. Glad we have him and I think he’s a stand up guy. But he’s the HC of BASKETBALL. That’s like paying a football coach 6-7 mil a year. I don’t understand why TN won’t pay FOOTBALL coaches big dollars seeing how it’s the highest revenue sport. Smh...

 

[JohnD13]

... is Rick Barnes.

The thing that baffles me is we made a .500 winning % basketball coach whose only made it to 1 Final 4 in 25 years and couldn’t get out of the sweet 16 with the best TN team ever THE 3RD HIGHEST paid coach in the country! and that’s BASKETBALL. That’s like paying a football coach 6-7 mil a year. I don’t understand why TN won’t pay FOOTBALL coaches big dollars seeing how it’s the highest revenging sport. Smh...

Therapy works wonders. Only reason I can see you bring Barnes into this. Smdh

 

[Mini Cooper]

Because we have too many hicks who are way over their collective heads in the college administration. The business of college football has left these hillbillies behind, and they have no answer for what it takes to be competitive. If the college were like anything in the private sector, they would have been voted out by the board long ago. The bringing back of Fulmer and positing him as some kind of savior, is just the icing on this already wretched cake.

 

[revjayp]

Therapy works wonders. Only reason I can see you bring Barnes into this. Smdh

Really? Im making a point that we weren’t afraid to pay a coach a lot of money. And Barnes isn’t a NC winning coach. So we can’t say that we’re cheap. For some reason, we’re only cheap in football. Make sense?

 

[The Original Fade]

Admin doesn’t care about winning, only revenue. #emptyNeyland might be the only thing that forces their hand in the long run

 

[Matt2496]

The thing is, Barnes is actually a good coach and knows what he's doing.

Pruitt on the other hand...

 

[revjayp]

The thing is, Barnes is actually a good coach and knows what he's doing.

Pruitt on the other hand...

I agree he’s a good coach. But we paid him like he’s a great coach. I like him a lot. I just wish we’d invest in football coaches like that.

 

[GTBATV]

I think of there was a coach that was interested in us and us in them, the pay would happen. Not sure that money is the issue.

 

[JMSqb11]

... is Rick Barnes.

The thing that baffles me is we made a .500 winning % basketball coach whose only made it to 1 Final 4 in 25 years and couldn’t get out of the sweet 16 with the best TN team ever THE 3RD HIGHEST paid coach in the country! and that’s BASKETBALL. That’s like paying a football coach 6-7 mil a year. I don’t understand why TN won’t pay FOOTBALL coaches big dollars seeing how it’s the highest revenue sport. Smh...

Too many egos and I'm not talking about Phil.

Barnes coming to Tennessee was a perfect match because we got to hire someone who wanted to revitalize their career and was cheap. 4 years later, here we are.

These football boosters don't care about basketball. For a football hire, you have so many egos from Haslam wing, the pro Fulmer wing, and then other boosters who just have a ton of money. Football is king at Tennessee. Basketball could run off Natty's and Baseball could go to Omaha year after year, but it wouldn't be as impactful as the football program being good and winning.

At this point in the program, a perfect match hire that is like Rick Barnes is hiring Les Miles.

 

[landscapingvol]

... is Rick Barnes.

The thing that baffles me is we made a .500 winning % basketball coach whose only made it to 1 Final 4 in 25 years and couldn’t get out of the sweet 16 with the best TN team ever THE 3RD HIGHEST paid coach in the country! and that’s BASKETBALL. That’s like paying a football coach 6-7 mil a year. I don’t understand why TN won’t pay FOOTBALL coaches big dollars seeing how it’s the highest revenue sport. Smh...

If you can’t see the difference between the trajectories of both programs then I don’t know what to tell you. Rick Barnes is a coach other programs would like to have and is a great coach. Jeremy Pruitt is being paid well above what he deserves and has a very highly paid staff. I don’t know that UT can afford to pay a football coach that much more. They owe a lot to this staff and it would require a lot of just to buy them out.

 

[Jabruzar]

Aside from the fact Coach Barnes was being heavily pursued by better basketball schools; winning the Naismith Coach of the Year Award after having one of the best years in Tennessee basketball history tends to get a good coach paid. Paying Barnes was the right move!

 

[revjayp]

If you can’t see the difference between the trajectories of both programs then I don’t know what to tell you. Rick Barnes is a coach other programs would like to have and is a great coach. Jeremy Pruitt is being paid well above what he deserves and has a very highly paid staff. I don’t know that UT can afford to pay a football coach that much more. They owe a lot to this staff and it would require a lot of just to buy them out.

I think you missed my point. I obviously see the difference. What we hear is that “TN is cheap and will never pay their coaches”. I’m staying that what Fulmer gave Barnes proves otherwise and makes no sense to me. Why wouldn’t you pay the most you can to the head coach of the program that brings about the most money??? That’s what i don’t get.

 

[G8rh8r]

Too many egos and I'm not talking about Phil.

Barnes coming to Tennessee was a perfect match because we got to hire someone who wanted to revitalize their career and was cheap. 4 years later, here we are.

These football boosters don't care about basketball. For a football hire, you have so many egos from Haslam wing, the pro Fulmer wing, and then other boosters who just have a ton of money. Football is king at Tennessee. Basketball could run off Natty's and Baseball could go to Omaha year after year, but it wouldn't be as impactful as the football program being good and winning.

At this point in the program, a perfect match hire that is like Rick Barnes is hiring Les Miles.

I’ll take Les

 

[revjayp]

Aside from the fact Coach Barnes was being heavily pursued by better basketball schools; winning the Naismith Coach of the Year Award after having one of the best years in Tennessee basketball history tends to get a good coach paid. Paying Barnes was the right move!

I agree. But if the saying “you are what your record says you are” then Barnes is a really good coach and player developer. But we paid him like he’s won NCs. I’m not debating Barnes here. I’m questioning whether or not TN is actually cheap or just clueless. Pay the Football coach the most money because that’s the program that pays for all the rest.

 

[barryjim]

Admin doesn’t care about winning, only revenue. #emptyNeyland might be the only thing that forces their hand in the long run

Other teams playing Tenn may see their stadiums less than full tooo...who wants to see a blowout?

 

[UTwild82]

I agree he’s a good coach. But we paid him like he’s a great coach. I like him a lot. I just wish we’d invest in football coaches like that.

We paid him like that because there was zero chance we could have made a better hire. So, yeah, we "overpaid" a bit. But it's a solid investment considering our basketball program would have fell apart if he left for UCLA.

Tennessee has the money to pay both. We need to start acting like it.

 

[BowlBrother85]

... is Rick Barnes.

The thing that baffles me is we made a .500 winning % basketball coach whose only made it to 1 Final 4 in 25 years and couldn’t get out of the sweet 16 with the best TN team ever THE 3RD HIGHEST paid coach in the country! and that’s BASKETBALL. That’s like paying a football coach 6-7 mil a year. I don’t understand why TN won’t pay FOOTBALL coaches big dollars seeing how it’s the highest revenue sport. Smh...

What are you talking about? Rick Barnes's career record is 692-364 (.655 winning %). His record at Tennessee is 88-50 (.638 winning %). I think you can make your point without running down the one good hire this athletic department has made in the last ten years.

 

[revjayp]

Too many egos and I'm not talking about Phil.

Barnes coming to Tennessee was a perfect match because we got to hire someone who wanted to revitalize their career and was cheap. 4 years later, here we are.

These football boosters don't care about basketball. For a football hire, you have so many egos from Haslam wing, the pro Fulmer wing, and then other boosters who just have a ton of money. Football is king at Tennessee. Basketball could run off Natty's and Baseball could go to Omaha year after year, but it wouldn't be as impactful as the football program being good and winning.

At this point in the program, a perfect match hire that is like Rick Barnes is hiring Les Miles.

That’s my point exactly. Football is long so why have we gone the Dooley/Butch/Pruitt route for football yet are willing to spend top 3 money for basketball? It seems the egos would want what is going to pay the largest dividends.

 

[BreatheUT]

... is Rick Barnes.

The thing that baffles me is we made a .500 winning % basketball coach whose only made it to 1 Final 4 in 25 years and couldn’t get out of the sweet 16 with the best TN team ever THE 3RD HIGHEST paid coach in the country! and that’s BASKETBALL. That’s like paying a football coach 6-7 mil a year. I don’t understand why TN won’t pay FOOTBALL coaches big dollars seeing how it’s the highest revenue sport. Smh...

Straw man argument.

 

[landscapingvol]

I think you missed my point. I obviously see the difference. What we hear is that “TN is cheap and will never pay their coaches”. I’m staying that what Fulmer gave Barnes proves otherwise and makes no sense to me. Why wouldn’t you pay the most you can to the head coach of the program that brings about the most money??? That’s what i don’t get.

Because even though Barnes is in the top three in basketball it wouldn’t be in the top 10 in football. Saban, Fisher, and Harbaugh make well above 6 million dollars. UT either doesn’t have or isn’t willing to pay that kind of money.

 

[revjayp]

What are you talking about? Rick Barnes career record is 692-364 (.655 winning %). His record at Tennessee is 88-50 (.638 winning %). I think you can make your point without running down the one good hire this athletic department has made in the last ten years.

Look at his tourney record. I don’t want to argue Barnes. I like him and he’s a great fit at TN. Glad to have him. But his salary is top 3 in the nation and He hasn’t won anything substantial. So why not take that same kind of approach with Football?

 

[JMSqb11]

Because even though Barnes is in the top three in basketball it wouldn’t be in the top 10 in football. Saban, Fisher, and Harbaugh make well above 6 million dollars. UT either doesn’t have or isn’t willing to pay that kind of money.

Correct. 6-7 Million isn't even that much money nowadays for coaches

 

[BowlBrother85]

Look at his tourney record. I don’t want to argue Barnes. I like him and he’s a great fit at TN. Glad to have him. But his salary is top 3 in the nation and He hasn’t won anything substantial. So why not take that same kind of approach with Football?

Then you shouldn't have brought him up and you shouldn't have falsely stated that he was a ".500 winning percentage basketball coach". That is just wrong.

 

[BowlBrother85]

I think of there was a coach that was interested in us and us in them, the pay would happen. Not sure that money is the issue.

It has become very hard to pull a successful head coach away from a Power 5 program. Just about anyone in the Power 5 can and will match our best offer... and there is no reason to risk a stable and secure situation for Tennessee. It has become too much of a perennial rebuild. One thing that should be noted about Rick Barnes, is that he was unemployed when Tennessee hired him. He would have never left Texas for Tennessee, regardless of how much we offered him.

 

[rocketskates]

That was Phil establishing that Tennessee is serious about winning and for once not allowing another school to steal our coach. Soon, he will need to decide if he feels the same about football when Pruitt gets canned and he’s forced to search for a new coach.