If he makes he FF, Barnes may feel like that is a good note to go out on. Knect is a once or twice in a career player to coach, and he's now in the HOF. He's got nothing else to prove, and it's getting a lot harder now in the NIL age.
If and when Barnes retires (and it could be this year) Pearl would be my first call as AD. He loved Knoxville, and it can't be the same on the plains. He's even still got a wing of the hospital named after him.
I speak for a lot of Vols here when I say we all wish we were back on campus tonight, and getting ready to head to the arena to meet the team. Vols for life aren't just athletes. We're all family.