Enjoy it. Really.

[Batman1948]

One thing that never gets mentioned is how the NIL era factors into his retirement decision. He said no one on the staff knew what they had when Dalton arrived on campus through the portal. I believe we just got lucky with Dalton turning out to be a super star.

We missed on some of our portal guys in this class but did get one good one. Barnes is a coach who always wanted to develop his players over the course of their careers and that's just not possible anymore with the portal and NIL.

I hope he stays as our head coach but would not be surprised if he retires. It's just too hard to develop recruits over 4 years and I believe that will factor in his retirement decision sooner than later.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

If CRB doesn’t stay, normally I’d not be happy if he waited until just before 2025-26 begins. But with so many major programs filling spots right now, appointing Gainey as an interim would be a good approach. Rather than hiring him early, it would be better to give him a one year tryout instead of being stuck with him for several years (with a buyout and bad publicity) if it’s apparent that he’s not yet ready to run a program at the SEC level.

 

[Luke Joiner]

Although you all obviously have boosters and sources that give good information, it’s just hard for me to see Barnes put a new coach in such a tough position with most high schoolers already committed and the portal already open. You would assume all commits will decommit and most if not all returning players would transfer. I could be very wrong and maybe Barnes replacement has already been recruiting, but it just doesn’t seem like Barnes would do that. Is Barnes retiring 50/50 or do we even know?

 

[VolArmy74]

Dickey, Majors, and Mears all left it better than they found it. Devoe kind of did so as well.

Edit: probably Cuonzo and Green as well

Disagree about Dickey. He supremely screwed us on the way out. Cuonzo and Green as well, as both had extremely toxic relationships with fans when they left. Also disagree about DeVoe, the program was in nearly continuous decline when he left and had been for years. Mears also had a bad exit that really hurt the program, and is more classic Tennessee bad luck. Some may have taken the program and lifted it, but the exits were bad and all set the program back badly.

Point being, there's not been a coach who left in a good manner on the men's side of a major sport since Neyland. There's been bitterness/hatred/NCAA chaos, or some kind of black cloud associated with them all leaving.

 

[Voltopia]

I think the writing has been on the wall this year. Said as much earlier this season. Barnes has commented repeatedly about what it meant to have Zeigler here this season, and about how much he's enjoyed coaching him. And Mashack and Zeigler are two of the last four years guys Tennessee's had on the roster, both gone after this year. Next year is going to be a total backcourt rebuild.

Just seems like the decision is simple. Does he want to be all-in for another multi-year project, (with promises to kids to stay for another 2-3 years), or does he want to call it a day?

All I really know is that, if he does retire, it'll be the end of the most successful era for Tennessee basketball and I'm nervous about becoming just another program again. It happens, though. Nothing lasts forever. And if this is the last ride, I hope Barnes finally breaks through. I would trade a lot to see that kind of ending for his work here.

 

[Jax_Vol]

Disagree about Dickey. He supremely screwed us on the way out. Cuonzo and Green as well, as both had extremely toxic relationships with fans when they left. Also disagree about DeVoe, the program was in nearly continuous decline when he left and had been for years. Mears also had a bad exit that really hurt the program, and is more classic Tennessee bad luck. Some may have taken the program and lifted it, but the exits were bad and all set the program back badly.

Point being, there's not been a coach who left in a good manner on the men's side of a major sport since Neyland. There's been bitterness/hatred/NCAA chaos, or some kind of black cloud associated with them all leaving.

I was going to say that Coach Majors left us better than he found us when "the well was dry"...

Then you mentioned bitterness and black cloud, so crossed him off my list...lol

 

[SGMVols]

$$$ talks (NIL)

We have had multiple guys take a “Barnes discount” to come here, particularly Knecht and Lanier.

Our NIL game is pretty far behind most of the basketball powers.

Chaz took about half the money he was offered by UK to come here.

That won’t happen without Barnes and I don’t think we are going to defund football NIL to prop up the next basketball coach.

 

[SGMVols]

Barnes did here what I've always hoped coaches would do at any of our programs. Leave it better than he found it. That's not happened since General Neyland retired for a major men's sport. Pearl was close but his ending was just too toxic. We are a stable, top program that any coach should want to be a part of if possible. Barnes showed that you can win here and that you'll get financial and fan support at the highest level.

That said, I'm hoping he's got at least another year in him and lets us go out with a retirement tour of sorts next season.

Majors definitely left the football program better than he found it lol

 

[VolArmy74]

I was going to say that Coach Majors left us better than he found us when "the well was dry"...

Then you mentioned bitterness and black cloud, so crossed him off my list...lol

Majors improved things and left more talent than any coach, maybe ever. But the exit was a definite black cloud and sparked years of bitterness.

Barnes retiring will be against the normal of a good exit. We've been cursed by them. Bowden Wyatt couldn't stop drinking. Dickey screwed us as bad as any coach ever screwed another program. If he'd stayed we probably win 2 or 3 titles and Alabama doesn't dominate the 70s. But sneaking off to Florida just before we played them was the all time low exit, even worse than Kiffin imo.

We all know the basketball exits have been because the program was going down and not up and not of them left a stable program in place.

 

[Ttucke11]

We have had multiple guys take a “Barnes discount” to come here, particularly Knecht and Lanier.

Our NIL game is pretty far behind most of the basketball powers.

Chaz took about half the money he was offered by UK to come here.

That won’t happen without Barnes and I don’t think we are going to defund football NIL to prop up the next basketball coach.

That's disappointing to hear. But NIL isn't the end all be all. I can't imagine Florida and Alabama really have that much more NIL support across football and basketball than we do.

 

[SGMVols]

Honestly, I trust DW with this upcoming hire.

He seems like the type who’ll go after a big name but will have a rising star in the back of his pocket if things go south.

Shaka Smart would be a great fit from a “big name” standpoint but whether or not he’d be truly interested is up for grabs.

I do agree that the next coach will have very big shoes to fill, especially in this conference.

I don’t think he’s going to hire Wade Houston 2.0 or anything, but the chance the program takes a step back after Barnes leaves is probably about 98%.

The only questions are 1) how big a step back is it and 2) how long does the step back last.

 

[HeuperDrive]

As somebody on the younger side of this board, my childhood was filled with listening to my dad and grandpa yell about how awful the basketball team was, and I thus spent most of my childhood accepting that we were terrible at the sport…… “why watch them, when I can just go play as a good team on NCAA 08?”, I thought. And the Cuonzo and Tindall eras only made me more indifferent. It was my low point of being a Vol, and it’s a sentiment shared with most fans aged 30 and below.

Rick Barnes changed that. Ever since he got things rolling here, I’ve never missed a game. I went to my first basketball game on senior night in 2019, and I was one of the thousands of people saying goodbye to Admiral and Grant. I cried when we won the SEC Tournament. Save a few bad nights, it’s been good memory after good memory. He is my personal favorite coach in the history of this program, and one of my favorites of all time. There is truly only one Rick Barnes.

If this is it, then I really don’t know if I’ll ever be able to enjoy this sport the same way I did with Rick at the helm. He made me love college basketball, a sport I was indifferent towards growing up. I just don’t think anybody could have that same effect Rick did. I’ll shed my share of tears whenever he hangs it up.

But it ain’t time yet. We have a job to do. Let’s win this whole damn thing.

 

[SGMVols]

That's disappointing to hear. But NIL isn't the end all be all. I can't imagine Florida and Alabama really have that much more NIL support across football and basketball than we do.

Alabama definitely has more support. Their AD makes $50 million more a year than ours

It’s a big part of how Oats was able to steal Aden Holloway from Pearl

 

[VolArmy74]

Majors definitely left the football program better than he found it lol

He probably comes the closest to that. But his exit was still nasty and damaging to the program/fanbase.

Kevin O'Neil actually probably comes closest on the men's basketball side to leaving this better than he found them, even with his toxic exit. He loaded the roster for Green at least. Still, it was as noted, a bad exit.

 

[sami]

I've felt all season that this would be it for Rick. Too many things just line up that way, what with his age, guys like ZZ, Shack, and Gainey in their last season, and the way the college game is moving away from the kind of program building that he believes creates the culture necessary to get the type of buy-in a program like his depends on.

As much as I'm going to hate seeing him go, the last thing I'd want is for him to struggle with a couple of down years rebuilding the program and not to be able to go out on his own terms. A nice tournament run here and hopefully that elusive Final Four would be such a fitting way to close what was the greatest stretch of men's basketball this school has ever experienced.

Truly great coach and an even better human being. It's not often that the character of a coach is a source of pride for a fan base, but Rick Barnes has certainly been that for me. Let's go out with a bang.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Disagree about Dickey. He supremely screwed us on the way out. Cuonzo and Green as well, as both had extremely toxic relationships with fans when they left. Also disagree about DeVoe, the program was in nearly continuous decline when he left and had been for years. Mears also had a bad exit that really hurt the program, and is more classic Tennessee bad luck. Some may have taken the program and lifted it, but the exits were bad and all set the program back badly.

Point being, there's not been a coach who left in a good manner on the men's side of a major sport since Neyland. There's been bitterness/hatred/NCAA chaos, or some kind of black cloud associated with them all leaving.

Are you comparing the state of the program when each coach left compared to what they started with, or whether or not the programs had declined from their peak year(s)? Or whether or not the successor coach had a better overall career? Or simply which coaches had bad exits? TN has been having bad coaching transitions and exits forever.

Mears was clearly better than Devoe, but again what exactly did DD start with? He never got the program to the Ernie and Bernie level but it was certainly improved over the Cliff Wettig interim year.

IMO, Green left it better than KO did. 4x 20s and 4x NCAATs versus 3x losing records and zero NCAATs.

Cuonzo was kind of flat. The program that he took over was a dumpster fire. He ended on a 3-1 NCAAT run. But he tarnished his accomplishments by not being able to bring up the racist crap and suggesting it was representative of the entire fan base instead of an extreme minority of idiots (that are everywhere).

 

[brockytop]

As of now Barnes leaving a crap roster for 2026 (unless multiple seniors are able to return) will be a blight on his legacy unless this team goes DEEP into this tournament. I hope that energizes him to return.

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

Okay i’m with you now, thanks for clarification midget

We all need a clarification midget now and then. It’s St. Patrick’s after all.

 

[vol9799]

I didn’t comment on whether we will or won’t be in the top four programs in the SEC. Speculation about that isn’t the topic.

Here is what I said:


“Whether he stays or goes, we’re seeing a brand of basketball, a type of player and a breed of leader that is rare to find these days. As always, I hope we win it all, but I’m going to pay attention and appreciate what we’re witnessing. We won’t see it again.”

I was commenting on the type of coach, player and program we possess currently. We are very unlikely to see a program with this level of leadership, integrity and toughness again. If you don’t understand that, your problems obviously go beyond reading comprehension. Danny White has earned my trust in his hiring process, but we are actually experiencing something we won’t experience again.

I could be reading the room completely inaccurately, but I perceive that Barnes' influence on culture isn't limited to the basketball program. I think his example has had a positive influence within the broader athletic community, at least to some degree.

 

[Anti-shunshinepumper]

I 100% don't mean this as a knock on this thread (I actually genuinely appreciate you making it and agree it is probably needed for some),
but if someone needs a reminder to enjoy this season and time with Barnes at the controls, then they are the type of person that can't appreciate a good thing until it is gone.
Kurt Cobain questioned himself in his suicide note with (and by extension anyone that does this) the label of "narcissist" for anyone that can't be thankful for/appreciate something until it is gone.
lol I won't go that far, but I will say that as a way to show my appreciation. Anyone that remotely takes for granted these last times of Barnes being a top coach here at Tennessee needs to learn to appreciate the things they have in life a bit more.

 

[05_never_again]

I 100% don't mean this as a knock on this thread (I actually genuinely appreciate you making it and agree it is probably needed for some),
but if someone needs a reminder to enjoy this season and time with Barnes at the controls, then they are the type of person that can't appreciate a good thing until it is gone.
Kurt Cobain questioned himself in his suicide note with (and by extension anyone that does this) the label of "narcissist" for anyone that can't be thankful for/appreciate something until it is gone.
lol I won't go that far, but I will say that as a way to show my appreciation. Anyone that remotely takes for granted these last times of Barnes being a top coach here at Tennessee needs to learn to appreciate the things they have in life a bit more.

We're still primarily a football school. Because of that, I think a lot of fans take the football fan mentality (where it is reasonable to draw conclusions from a single game, and definitely from 2-3 games) and carry it to other sports. Football plays 12 regular season games and is a more physical, move-people-against-their-will sport. You don't need to play 30 or 50 games to figure out which team is better in football. You do in basketball and baseball. I think our basketball fanbase also underestimates the randomness of the NCAAT and draws too big of a conclusion from it as far as how successful a coach has been at any given school.

Outside of Coach K and maybe Roy Williams, even the great coaches are not as consistent in the NCAAT as you might think they might be. Bill Self, for example, hasn't made it out of the first weekend in 4 out of the last 5 NCAATs. I get that the one year he did make it out of the first weekend he won a title, but even the good coaches aren't in the EE or FF every year, or even once every few years. There are still quite a few people who'd like to have Bruce back, and will say things like "Rick isn't good in the NCAAT" to make their argument. At Auburn, he's made it out of the first weekend of the NCAAT once.

Overall, if your coach is consistently getting you into the NCAAT at seeds that maximize your chances of making a run, then you have a good-to-great coach.

 

[YankeeVol]

We're still primarily a football school. Because of that, I think a lot of fans take the football fan mentality (where it is reasonable to draw conclusions from a single game, and definitely from 2-3 games) and carry it to other sports. Football plays 12 regular season games and is a more physical, move-people-against-their-will sport. You don't need to play 30 or 50 games to figure out which team is better in football. You do in basketball and baseball. I think our basketball fanbase also underestimates the randomness of the NCAAT and draws too big of a conclusion from it as far as how successful a coach has been at any given school.

Outside of Coach K and maybe Roy Williams, even the great coaches are not as consistent in the NCAAT as you might think they might be. Bill Self, for example, hasn't made it out of the first weekend in 4 out of the last 5 NCAATs. I get that the one year he did make it out of the first weekend he won a title, but even the good coaches aren't in the EE or FF every year, or even once every few years. There are still quite a few people who'd like to have Bruce back, and will say things like "Rick isn't good in the NCAAT" to make their argument. At Auburn, he's made it out of the first weekend of the NCAAT once.

Overall, if your coach is consistently getting you into the NCAAT at seeds that maximize your chances of making a run, then you have a good-to-great coach.

I'd add Dean Smith to the list. He had 11 FF appearances. I'd probably say Izzo as well (8 appearances)

But yes, not many coaches are that consistent come tourney time.

 

[Anti-shunshinepumper]

I'd add Dean Smith to the list. He had 11 FF appearances. I'd probably say Izzo as well (8 appearances)

But yes, not many coaches are that consistent come tourney time.

Izzo probably needs to be on the list.
Feels that way anyhow. He also seems to be in the thick of things come March.
I really respect him as a coach and always hate to see him in our bracket. Seems he always has a game plan for the style of basketball the opposing team plays.

 

[05_never_again]

I'd add Dean Smith to the list. He had 11 FF appearances. I'd probably say Izzo as well (8 appearances)

But yes, not many coaches are that consistent come tourney time.

Even Izzo, as good of a coach as he is, isn't as consistent in the tournament as many in the media describe him. Since 2010 (13 tournaments), he's gotten bounced in the first weekend 7 times, occasionally with elite teams. That isn't to take anything away from Izzo - he's one of the best to ever do it and I think it is an indication of how random the tournament can be, but if you were a more passing observer of the sport you might think he's in the FF or EE every year or something.

 

[Tanner1010]

We all need a clarification midget now and then. It’s St. Patrick’s after all.