Article about Barnes

[Namorto1]

Barnes is a good coach. I think it's his unwillingness to change and adapt that has him "stuck". He needs to recognize his deficiencies as it pertains to offense and surround himself with assistants who can help in that area. I also applaud the culture he's built. Having said that, I think he might be placing too much weight on a recruits defensive abilities while ignoring their offensive liabilities. Also, I can appreciate a desire to avoid dealing with problem players, but sometimes you need some attitude and fight in your players. Guys like JJJ are great people, but there's just not enough dawg in him to be anything more than just a nice player when he's into the game. Long winded way of saying that Barnes needs bench help and more complete players who can do more than just play defense and say yes sir to him.

Perfectly stated. Perhaps one of the best summaries of both Barnes and the program at this point. Barnes is a hall of fame coach, no doubt about it and I hope he retires at UT, but he needs to recognize (as the article articulated) that he is part of the problem. Post season record speaks for itself and is a reasonable observation. I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with the X's and O's he teaches but we do need alot more, "dog" so to speak in our players on the offensive end who aren't afraid of the moment and have been instilled with confidence to make plays. Guys who can take the initiative, play 1x1, take it to the basket, stay aggressive and inspire teammates to follow them. He may need to recruit for that attribute vs finding ideal guys who fit his system.

Zeigler has this in him, despite the mistakes he makes from time to time and his size. Who else on this squad? Mashack showed to a certain extent but he still has to improve his offensive skill and develop. Vescovi I think probably has it but is limited by ability, as he is somewhat a one dimensional guy, but I never thought he played afraid. James, Nkamhoua and Key most certainly didn't have it. Phillips, thus far doesn't have it.

 

[Grey_pilgrim]

Did Barnes shoot 33% from the field, 26% from 3, or 57 % from the ft line? The players played scared and it cost us. Should Barnes have used a TO earlier during the run? Yes he should have, but to say this loss is only on him is ridiculous.

Barnes has shown who he is in March for decades. He ain’t getting any better. He’s a good coach but sadly he’s never for to make it past the elite 8.

 

[knoxvol52]

That’s not his point. The point is that pearl was a “mid major” coach when he was hired in the spring of 2005.

Oh okay one out of ten isn't a bad percentage

 

[knoxvol52]

I was referring to a mid-major coach.

Misunderstood but everyone gets lucky once in a while how many we miss on before Pearl

 

[Grey_pilgrim]

I hope Barnes quits not because he is horrible like some of you say.I hope he does to prove to you naysayers that actually believe we could get a top notch coach,it's not happening people not here Barnes is the best we have had but if he leaves and we get what some of you will call a savior and we suck ass for next five years I will laugh like hell watching the same people say what happened

True fan right here. /s

 

[knoxvol52]

True fan right here. /s[

True fan right here. /s

Damn rite I am a true fan At least I don't want to fire a coach that has won here every year.

 

[Go47]

This 100%. Night follows day. Vols choke in the tournament.

 

[Boston Vol]

Misunderstood but everyone gets lucky once in a while how many we miss on before Pearl

Well what do you expect when you have imbeciles running the athletic department? The same imbeciles who decided to hire Wade Houston instead of Rick Majerus and Jerry Green instead of Bill Self. You think Tennessee basketball might have been a little more successful if they had hired one of those two guys?

 

[brockytop]

Perfectly stated. Perhaps one of the best summaries of both Barnes and the program at this point. Barnes is a hall of fame coach, no doubt about it and I hope he retires at UT, but he needs to recognize (as the article articulated) that he is part of the problem. Post season record speaks for itself and is a reasonable observation. I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with the X's and O's he teaches but we do need alot more, "dog" so to speak in our players on the offensive end who aren't afraid of the moment and have been instilled with confidence to make plays. Guys who can take the initiative, play 1x1, take it to the basket, stay aggressive and inspire teammates to follow them. He may need to recruit for that attribute vs finding ideal guys who fit his system.

Zeigler has this in him, despite the mistakes he makes from time to time and his size. Who else on this squad? Mashack showed to a certain extent but he still has to improve his offensive skill and develop. Vescovi I think probably has it but is limited by ability, as he is somewhat a one dimensional guy, but I never thought he played afraid. James, Nkamhoua and Key most certainly didn't have it. Phillips, thus far doesn't have it.

Barnes, though a really good overall guy, has a huge ego and I’m not sure he’ll ever recognize he is part of the problem.

 

[pearloftn]

If you're being honest w/ yourself, you would know this team actually overachieved this season. Everyone speaks about the loss of ZZ. Our biggest loss was Kennedy Chandler. He was a do everything point guard that couldn't be replaced. This year's basketball squad was not very talented. Vescovi is predominantly a catch & shoot 2 guard. His fg% drops drastically when being forced to put the ball on the floor. Key, Nkamhoua, JJJ, Phillips, & the rest of the gang are all role players. Not a single player who can consistently create their own shot or an open look for a teammate. These things happen to nearly every major division I school every few years due to roster turnover. Rick Barnes team defeated Kansas, Texas, and Alabama this season just to name a few. We advanced to another Sweet 16 & IMO Barnes accomplished this w/ smoke & mirrors and....a really good defense.

 

[Volfan1000]

Well what do you expect when you have imbeciles running the athletic department? The same imbeciles who decided to hire Wade Houston instead of Rick Majerus and Jerry Green instead of Bill Self. You think Tennessee basketball might have been a little more successful if they had hired one of those two guys?

Self said in interviews that he was not ready to take on the Tennessee job at that time when he was approached by Dickey and the main reason Tennessee hired Wade was to get Allan Houston.

I did not know that Majerus was a finalist for the Tennessee job when Houston was hired.

 

[VaBornVol]

I hope Barnes quits not because he is horrible like some of you say.I hope he does to prove to you naysayers that actually believe we could get a top notch coach,it's not happening people not here Barnes is the best we have had but if he leaves and we get what some of you will call a savior and we suck ass for next five years I will laugh like hell watching the same people say what happened

In your opinion, what will the next five years under Barnes look like?

 

[jaguinn5]

In your opinion, what will the next five years under Barnes look like?

I can answer that based on the last three decades of his career. We will recruit really well and be great on defense. We may have one or two players that are consistent on offense, but not for multiple years in a row. We will be a top 25 team most years, probably winning between 20-25 games most years. There will probably be one, two at most, years where we will win less than 20 games and not finish in the top 25. We will make the tournament almost every year and we MIGHT see one more sweet 16 finish.

Again, that's just an educated guess based on what he has done year in and year out for over three decades.

 

[Sudden Impact]

Well what do you expect when you have imbeciles running the athletic department? The same imbeciles who decided to hire Wade Houston instead of Rick Majerus and Jerry Green instead of Bill Self. You think Tennessee basketball might have been a little more successful if they had hired one of those two guys?

Those imbeciles are gone. Barnes is not a D White hire. There were imbeciles but they came after Dickey. I will give some lead way because of the Green and O'Neil situations but face it Dickey didn't care about basketball as an AD and he was definitely not going to butt heads with CPHS. Hamilton started the imbecile run. He did hire Pearl because he was cheap at the time. Plenty of Imbeciles to go around. Self probably would have left the program in shambles because of the $$$$ he needed to recruit good players.

 

[LIvol]

I got a choice for you...if Chris Beard can get rehired in 3 months, then it's time. Thank you to everyone I
But especially Coach Barnes. He has been amazing for a good bit and kept these seasons fun. I think he is 70 or will be next year and this is the Syracuse thing all over again. I think Danny White is really thinking about the reality that Barnes is a great coach and an even better HUMAN BEING. My question I would want to ask is when does being relevant all season and making a number of tournaments and having a few wins not suffice for what is supposed to be a top 12 basketball program.


The name is ....Sean Miller. The guy just wins

 

[WaywardVol]

Did Barnes shoot 33% from the field, 26% from 3, or 57 % from the ft line? The players played scared and it cost us. Should Barnes have used a TO earlier during the run? Yes he should have, but to say this loss is only on him is ridiculous.

At the end of the day, he’s the one collecting the 5th highest paid coach’s salary. If a team with that many seniors is scared, that’s on him.

 

[brockytop]

Self said in interviews that he was not ready to take on the Tennessee job at that time when he was approached by Dickey and the main reason Tennessee hired Wade was to get Allan Houston.

I did not know that Majerus was a finalist for the Tennessee job when Houston was hired.

You’re wrong about Wade Houston being hired for his son. Primary reason for that hire was Lamar Alexander wanting a black head coach as part of his legacy as UT President.

 

[SGMVols]

Your PETTY INSULTS can't HIDE the FACT that you are DELUSIONAL. Caps are a point of emphasis, not yelling. Go take a nap and come back when you QUIT DREAMING of UT not being able to hire a real BIG TIME basketball coach as you would call it!

Sir, this is a Wendy’s

 

[Cartervol]

It was a game Barnes needed to win. That's about it. Tennessee is in that spot where you could do a lot worse than Rick Barnes. Just never know.

 

[volfeeva]

Barnes is not getting a full compliment of talent on the floor at the same time, he has had several one and dones at Tennessee, but with all that talent in the back court, his ability to recruit and develope the top shelf talent for the front line has been lacking. Annually we have 2 or 3 signers that are gone the next season for whatever reason, but they are not headed to the NBA, they are headed for another school where they will see more of the floor and less of the bench.

Barnes should have called timeout when FAU tied the game, but Barnes doesn't call timeouts and if he does it's not until the daggers are already in and the team's confidence, poise and offensive capability are shattered.

Tennessee's team this year is full of good players and good kids that represent the school well, however, Barnes needs to end the foreign player development projects and focus on signing and developing the talented and skilled players from the AAU summer leagues that have played the US game nonstop for the better part of six or seven years straight preserving the good kid, teachable kid demographic if possible, but kids that want to win and play hard for Tennessee.

While the loss to FAU didn't sting having seen these winnable game breakdowns all season long, to see a coach making 1/10 of what Barnes carrys home, kids flying commercial rather than private charter, a team with an annual budget which Tennessee burns through in six weeks actually want to win a game more that our team which is surrounded by booster and conference riches is damnable and certainly not lost on the boosters and the casual observers.

Just throwing it out there, but I notice a few other teams have the " one and done" problem ( see kentucky ) and they also have struggled to go deep in the play offs since this trend started. Just look at the number of times we had a different number 1 in the regular season. Maybe the one and done and portal transfers have brought us very close parity in the college ranks where the team that reach the final 4 are teams that catch lightning in a bottle with a few talented players. Also, teams , even less talented teams should progress during the season and get better, but the Vols seem to lose it. Having key players go down shouldn't end the season

 

[LIvol]

Did Barnes shoot 33% from the field, 26% from 3, or 57 % from the ft line? The players played scared and it cost us. Should Barnes have used a TO earlier during the run? Yes he should have, but to say this loss is only on him is ridiculous.

Listen if guys get credit for winning then they take the blame for the other end.

By the way when a team shoots poorly we all say it is players, but the coaching issues were more with the intangibles. He wasn't changing the defensive matchups. He wasn't trying to for some pressure on the ball from the inbounds. He didn't even play Uros again. He did not play BJ Edward's which may have ignited something on the offensive side. We needed something.

 

[Grey_pilgrim]

@knoxvol52
I don’t want to fire him either. But he’s shown what he is. His best isn’t good enough for a deep March run. Barnes best might get us past the first weekend but that’s a stretch. We have to decide if we’re okay with that. Personally I’m not, but I know we could do a lot worse.

 

[VolsAgainstTheWorld15]

Did Barnes shoot 33% from the field, 26% from 3, or 57 % from the ft line? The players played scared and it cost us. Should Barnes have used a TO earlier during the run? Yes he should have, but to say this loss is only on him is ridiculous.

I’ll defend the man from anyone on here who wants him fired because of how idiotic that desire is, but the fact is, he recruited this roster. If he recruited an offensively challenged team with no big shot makers, which it seems very clear that he did, he does bear that responsibility.

He may not be able to shoot the ball for the team, but roster composition is part of coaching. Like I said, I like him. He’s a really good coach contrary to what some of the geniuses on here think. Probably the best one we’ve had in the modern era, but there are some fair criticisms of him.

 

[kell7517]

I don't know if this is a rhetorical question, but just being a fan of the team and for some (like me) , you hope that Barnes finally gets to the Final Four one more time before he retires,and Tennessee gets their first Final Four. No different than watching the Braves in the 90's and early 2000's. A lot of division titles, and having that one World Series that at least proved that for one year, you're at the top or one of the last few teams left at the end in this case.

I agree as well. I like Barnes, he runs a tight ship and is a good role Model For those young guys. I’m hoping for one last hoorah for him and hopefully a championship before he hangs it up.

 

[PreacherVol2]

So Alabama lost tonight, Houston lost tonight. All the #1 seeds are gone. I was so very disappointed in our loss last night. But there aren’t many coaches showing everyone else how it’s done. For me, Rick Barnes makes me proud to be a Vol fan! I really wish he could have won it all this year and every year. I’m just glad I’m not a Purdue or a Clemson fan, lol!