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

Would a Rick Barnes hire make you happy?

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#1,626
#1,626
I'm not gonna fully say I expected what we are doing or even last year's run as a whole.

I fully expected Barnes to be here with middle of the road results while somewhat stocking the roster and getting the program back on solid ground. No one can deny he lost a lot of games in his later years at Texas that he were unusual for him and his career as a whole. I fully believe the move to Tennessee and embrace of him after the Cuonzo/Donnie T years did reenergize him big time. With that said, he was easily the best hire in the history of UT Basketball if you look solely at his resume.

The guy now looks like he easily has another 5 years in him at minimum and recruiting seems to be doing well.

I think it also goes to show that any "Older" coach who was fired or left a school for a downtrend can easily get reenergized and rediscover their coaching and succeed if they land in the right situation.

It does feel like this year's team is playing with a vengeance every time out. I do think this is one of the greatest teams in UT's history. I think they would be neck and neck with 2007-2008 team.
 
#1,632
#1,632
bnhunt said:
Hahaha! This might possibly be the worst post fail ever.
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Oh well, win some, lose some. I had been in a roll, lamenting the hires of Dooley, Jones, Tyndall and Holly from the get go. I was just ok with Cuonzo, which was about how he did, and like the Pruitt hire very much. Barnes getting a second wind in his career has been wonderful for us, but he was sucking wind and past 60 when we hired him. It wasn't an outrageous take I had.

Also, I hate to point it out, but he still hasn't gotten past the first weekend since 2008. He should this year, but don't go jinxing this thing yet. Ask Virginia.
 
#1,633
#1,633
ainge10heisman said:
And why are you at a loss of words? What I said is absolutely true. Barnes just doesn't have it anymore. He has underachieved his entire career. He doesn't get the most out of his players. He's just been going threw the motions for years now. He's not the coach to rebuild our program. Yeah he has a good record and goes to the tournament every year. It's what he doesn't do that is the biggest concern.
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Nailed it
 
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#1,635
#1,635
Unimane said:
Oh well, win some, lose some. I had been in a roll, lamenting the hires of Dooley, Jones, Tyndall and Holly from the get go. I was just ok with Cuonzo, which was about how he did, and like the Pruitt hire very much. Barnes getting a second wind in his career has been wonderful for us, but he was sucking wind and past 60 when we hired him. It wasn't an outrageous take I had.

Also, I hate to point it out, but he still hasn't gotten past the first weekend since 2008. He should this year, but don't go jinxing this thing yet. Ask Virginia.
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Just take the L.
 
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#1,639
#1,639
Aesius said:
I feel like Barnes is a good, safe hire. He's the equivalent of hiring Tuberville in football right now. He'll field solid teams, but his glory days are behind him.

He's low risk, medium reward. Hiring a Wade or a Underwood is high risk, high reward.

I think with Barnes, Hart would know exactly what he's getting and would also know that his own job being at risk due to another coaching failure is unlikely.
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Lol @ my Tuberville comparison
 
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#1,640
#1,640
Aesius said:
Lol @ my Tuberville comparison
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To be fair, it was a reasonable comparison at the time. At the time of the Barnes hire, I think I compared it to if Fulmer had left Tennessee for Texas Tech at the time of his firing in 2008. With the information you had at the time, your assessment seemed fair. Literally no one knew, or truly believed at the time Barnes was hired that he would so quickly develop this group into a force nationally by completely changing the way he recruited and not landing a single 4* player until his 4th recruiting class. There was no evidence to point to that suggested a veteran coach in his late 50s could completely reinvent his recruiting approach at a school who had had 3 HCs in 3 years, and make them a #3 seed in the NCAAT by year #3. I can't think of an example to point to.

Now, where many of the basketball forum regulars got testy, was with the idea that so few were willing to give him a chance, or so quickly soured on him when he didn't have 5* players lining up to come here, and were calling for his head after year 1 or 2, as if another coaching search was going to make things better. Those of us who stuck with it thru the tough times and defended his approach feel sort of vindicated for playing the long game and showing patience, but now we all get to enjoy it, no matter which side of the fence you stood on before.
 
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#1,641
#1,641
cncchris33 said:
To be fair, it was a reasonable comparison at the time. At the time of the Barnes hire, I think I compared it to if Fulmer had left Tennessee for Texas Tech at the time of his firing in 2008. With the information you had at the time, your assessment seemed fair. Literally no one knew, or truly believed at the time Barnes was hired that he would so quickly develop this group into a force nationally by completely changing the way he recruited and not landing a single 4* player until his 4th recruiting class. There was no evidence to point to that suggested a veteran coach in his late 50s could completely reinvent his recruiting approach at a school who had had 3 HCs in 3 years, and make them a #3 seed in the NCAAT by year #3. I can't think of an example to point to.

Now, where many of the basketball forum regulars got testy, was with the idea that so few were willing to give him a chance, or so quickly soured on him when he didn't have 5* players lining up to come here, and were calling for his head after year 1 or 2, as if another coaching search was going to make things better. Those of us who stuck with it thru the tough tines and defended his approach feel sort of vindicated for playing the long game and showing patience, but now we all get to enjoy it, no matter which side of the fence you stood on before.
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Nah, I agree with you. I think it was a reasonable take as well. It's just funny because Tubs is out of coaching completely and Barnes (who is the same age as him) has a potential Final Four squad on his hands.

And to be fair to myself, Tuberville was coming off two 9-4 seasons at Cincy when I posted that, so he looked like a good "safe" hire there as well.

Also interesting that Will Wade ended up in the SEC after all and looks to have LSU playing tough basketball. Underwood...well, jury is still out there but Illinois looks rough.
 
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#1,648
#1,648
Unimane said:
What good is it if he gets outcoached and underperforms year in and year out in the tournament? He's the Dabo Sweeney of college basketball.
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The Dabo part of this post has aged well. We can only hope he’s the Dabo of basketball.
 
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#1,649
#1,649
Unimane said:
Oh well, win some, lose some. I had been in a roll, lamenting the hires of Dooley, Jones, Tyndall and Holly from the get go. I was just ok with Cuonzo, which was about how he did, and like the Pruitt hire very much. Barnes getting a second wind in his career has been wonderful for us, but he was sucking wind and past 60 when we hired him. It wasn't an outrageous take I had.

Also, I hate to point it out, but he still hasn't gotten past the first weekend since 2008. He should this year, but don't go jinxing this thing yet. Ask Virginia.
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He got passed the first weekend last year? Remember? :)
 
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