Rick Barnes discussion (merged)

#5,251
#5,251
Matt2496 said:
I've seen this take several times, and I think it's stupid. This exact mentality is what led to our football woes over the past 15+ years.
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Your take can be taken as stupid... Just keep riding with outdated basketball...Alabama.was aggressive and found a new age type coach...
 
#5,252
#5,252
JMSqb11 said:
Peterson was a moron coach, but he didn’t leave the roster in shambles like Cuonzo/Donnie did while cusp of a scandal….
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We are discussing different points. The point was relevance. After 4 seasons under Buzz, no tourney and basically 0.500 ball. Barnes was 1 Tyndall bizarro hire from a tourney Elite 8 appearance. Feels like the program had more relevance actually going to the tourney but idk.

Doesn’t matter. Barnes isn’t going anywhere and the relevant Vols will continue on trying to get an Elite 8.
 
#5,253
#5,253
BisonVol said:
Dude, believe what you want. It’s not worth arguing about because Barnes is in absolutely no danger of losing his job.
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He’s not, but there’s nothing wrong with the fan base wishing he’d retire considering the amount of money we are now paying him and the fact he’s over the retirement age. He sits on his ass more during the games then stand up and coach
 
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#5,254
#5,254
EaglesVols91 said:
He’s not, but there’s nothing wrong with the fan base wishing he’d retire considering the amount of money we are now paying him and the fact he’s over the retirement age. He sits on his ass more during the games then stand up and coach
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Ur not paying him anything. What you fans don’t get is that we won’t get anything better than rick barnes rn.
 
#5,257
#5,257
volgr said:
Why is it a competition between Barnes and Pearl? Both are great coaches, both took bad rosters and built the program up. I appreciate both.
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We live in a society where 2 things can't simultaneously be true.
We can't both like Barnes as coach, knowing where this program used to be and complain that they can't be better than a sweet 16 program.
You either love the guy or are a "hater".
 
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#5,259
#5,259
95 Vol Alum said:
We are discussing different points. The point was relevance. After 4 seasons under Buzz, no tourney and basically 0.500 ball. Barnes was 1 Tyndall bizarro hire from a tourney Elite 8 appearance. Feels like the program had more relevance actually going to the tourney but idk.

Doesn’t matter. Barnes isn’t going anywhere and the relevant Vols will continue on trying to get an Elite 8.
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You’re right. Pearl came to a low volatility program. Barnes came to a high volatility program where the 4 years prior were two bubble NIT seasons and a bubble play in / Sweet 16 season followed by two coaching changes in a 12-16 month window….

Between Cuonzo bolting and causing roster issues and Donnie being an idiot and getting his show cause, there was so much the program downgraded to before Barnes took the job….. Pearl came into a program that simply fired a coach who didn’t perform…
 
#5,260
#5,260
vols1071 said:
Your take can be taken as stupid... Just keep riding with outdated basketball...Alabama.was aggressive and found a new age type coach...
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Alabama fired a coach (Avery Johnson) who had made the tournament once in four seasons (much different situation than ours as we have made the last five tournaments) and hired a coach from a mid major that no casual fan had ever heard of. He happened to worked out. However, for every Nate Oats, there are a few Buzz Peterson’s.
 
#5,261
#5,261
EaglesVols91 said:
People likely said that about the football program before Huepel was hired
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Basketball and football have no correlation when it comes to coaching hires. Look at what most programs are going, hiring within or taking chances on mid major guys. Barnes has proved he can win and a major school, ride him as long as we can have him.
 
#5,262
#5,262
I’m not dogging Rick tonight. He should have called a timeout and probably should have played Awaka. Bigger issues were having players who can’t score regularly (aside from Vescovi) and ON not trying. This is what we have as a program and this is the peak and he got there. You’ll have 20+ wins, some quality regular season upsets, and you’ll get a round 1 to sweet 16 appearance. We’re not a basketball school and won’t ever be. If you can’t appreciate that, there’s a Duke/UNC thread for people that want to also have a basketball school to be a fan of.
 
#5,263
#5,263
BisonVol said:
Alabama fired a coach (Avery Johnson) who had made the tournament once in four seasons (much different situation than ours as we have made the last five tournaments) and hired a coach from a mid major that no casual fan had ever heard of. He happened to worked out. However, for every Nate Oats, there are a few Buzz Peterson’s.
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And that guy thinks it’s ok to be a murderer
 
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#5,264
#5,264
Volstylexx said:
I didn’t say no one else could be successful, but programs historically revert to the average. Fans are angry at Barnes for not doing something that literally NO other coach has ever done in the history of TN basketball. A history that spans 115 years. Think about that.
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Sure. Now think about the coaches and even more importantly the AD's. Having the right AD will help put is in the championship picture consistently. Some think White is the guy.
 
#5,265
#5,265
EaglesVols91 said:
He’s not, but there’s nothing wrong with the fan base wishing he’d retire considering the amount of money we are now paying him and the fact he’s over the retirement age. He sits on his ass more during the games then stand up and coach
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It’s also apparently difficult for him, at his advanced age, to place his hands in the shape of a “T” to signal a timeout.
 
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#5,266
#5,266
UTFanHades said:
I’m not dogging Rick tonight. He should have called a timeout and probably should have played Awaka. Bigger issues were having players who can’t score regularly (aside from Vescovi) and ON not trying. This is what we have as a program and this is the peak and he got there. You’ll have 20+ wins, some quality regular season upsets, and you’ll get a round 1 to sweet 16 appearance. We’re not a basketball school and won’t ever be. If you can’t appreciate that, there’s a Duke/UNC thread for people that want to also have a basketball school to be a fan of.
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Seeing all those rebound opportunities we just watched go by while FAU took advantage had me thinking where the hell was Awaka. He’s like the rebound thief when on the court. No way would I have ever guessed being lazy on the glass would end our season. But there is a first for every season ending loss for Tennessee athletics.
 
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#5,267
#5,267
JMSqb11 said:
Peterson was a moron coach, but he didn’t leave the roster in shambles like Cuonzo/Donnie did while cusp of a scandal….
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Pearl inherited a downtrodden program (no success in prior 20 years except for blip under Green)

Barnes inherited a down team but a much stronger program due to much more sustained success over prior 20 years.

Much easier to build a team than a program. To Barnes credit, he built a team and continued building the program....
 
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#5,268
#5,268
BisonVol said:
Alabama fired a coach (Avery Johnson) who had made the tournament once in four seasons (much different situation than ours as we have made the last five tournaments) and hired a coach from a mid major that no casual fan had ever heard of. He happened to worked out. However, for every Nate Oats, there are a few Buzz Peterson’s.
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Oh the causal fans definitely know Oats now
 
#5,269
#5,269
JMSqb11 said:
I love Pearl and hope winds favor him returning one day. But Pearl’s roster he walked into is nothing like the roster Barnes took over after Donnie was fired.
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It's very comparable. Pearl took over a roster with 3 top 100 recruits + sophomore Lofton. Barnes had two top 100 players but Hubbs was ranked higher than anyone Pearl inherited, and Admiral, plus Punter who was a top 10 Juco recruit and pretty great scorer.

Barnes took over a program that has been to 7 of the prior 11 NCAAs, 2 years off a sweet 16, with great facilities. Pearl took over a corpse that people were so down on, we got called out by the basketball community for firing Buzz after his disastrous run. Those facilities Barnes got to take advantage of, were built during Pearl’s time.
 
#5,270
#5,270
EaglesVols91 said:
He’s not, but there’s nothing wrong with the fan base wishing he’d retire considering the amount of money we are now paying him and the fact he’s over the retirement age. He sits on his ass more during the games then stand up and coach
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Who’s “we”?

You’re not paying him anything.

That’s the dumbest argument that somehow, morons think holds any accountability.
 
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#5,271
#5,271
JMSqb11 said:
He’s a coach, not a Pr expert on how to handle media…

The price to keep Barnes from going to UCLA kept Tennessee relevant and trending upward.

Considering Fulmer, who I love, was AD at the time, I have little faith that team could have executed a basketball coaching search that would have upgraded the coaching staff had Barnes bolted…. The price to pay him to stay was more important than balking and going into a search that likely results in us saving money and paying a coach less.
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Never said the Vols shouldn't have paid Barnes whatever it took to keep him. Like you were alliterating to, it kept the momentum going forward for the program.

Hindsight being 20/20, Fulmer and his braintrust bringing in a Jeremy Pruitt for basketball would have left us not even lamenting a loss in the Sweet 16 tonight.

We will just agree to disagree on the point about the PR expert though. All these coaches deal with PR to a point and some things are best left unsaid.

Not that its a huge issue 4 years later. I just don't have the orange colored glasses on like some guys here and can like Barnes while acknowledging his faults.
 
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#5,272
#5,272
BigOrangeMojo said:
Barnes inherited a down team in a program that had a 20 year period of moderate, mostly sustained success. It's not like he inherited a downtrodden program with limited success in prior 2 decades.

Pearl inherited a program with only a blip of success in past 25 years (under Green).

Both coaches should be commended but comparing the programs they inherited is apples to oranges
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That’s a nice spin, but teams lose important players from year to year. Pearl inherited an NBA PG, our program’s best shooter in history, and a top 50 big guy. Barnes inherited a top Juco player. Martin was terrible at recruiting in his 3 years, and Tyndall tried to shuffle the deck. Martin took Pearl’s players (plus Richardson and Stokes) to the SS, and only Richardson remained for Tyndall. What they inherited aren’t comparable.

That’s also not to say anything bad about Pearl at UT. I loved him, but it’s being intellectually dishonest in saying Pearl had the tougher job at first. Maybe Pearl had to work more to get TBA sold out. But the personnel wasn’t close.
 
#5,275
#5,275
VolArmy74 said:
It's very comparable. Pearl took over a roster with 3 top 100 recruits + sophomore Lofton. Barnes had two top 100 players but Hubbs was ranked higher than anyone Pearl inherited, and Admiral, plus Punter who was a top 10 Juco recruit and pretty great scorer.

Barnes took over a program that has been to 7 of the prior 11 NCAAs, 2 years off a sweet 16, with great facilities. Pearl took over a corpse that people were so down on, we got called out by the basketball community for firing Buzz after his disastrous run. Those facilities Barnes got to take advantage of, were built during Pearl’s time.
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Barnes took over a program that had 2 coaches in a 15 month time frame due to bolting and a firing and had 1 appearance in tourney over their tenures and was a full recruiting class removed from the previous stable/top tier coaching staff… the drop in program state and.quality from Pearl’s firing to Barnes’ Hiring was much worse than what Pearl walked into….
 
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