Rick Barnes discussion (merged)

[patrick]

Early AAT exit. But many losses coming before that.

 

[AthensVol2007]

For every Nate Oats, there’s a Buzz Peterson. Mid major coaches are a coin flip.

Every coach is either a mid-major or an assistant to begin with. I’m unfamiliar with the coach who said I’m going to be a coach and was hired by a blue-blood as a HC immediately.

 

[BisonVol]

I'd say for every Oats, there's 10 Buzz Petersons

True that.

 

[VolArmy74]

Ok champ.

Let me know when those “elite” coaches line up to coach here.

You do know Barnes is closer to 70 than 60 and that we will be replacing him sooner than later.

Also, 4 of our last 5 coaches who were here more than a year went to at least the sweet 16 and won 20+ games multiple times.

The idea we won't ever have a good coach again is just silly.

 

[AthensVol2007]

Ok but if we’re expecting an up & comer to come in and start winning like Nate Oats only to be disappointed with the results, what will be the excuse?

There won’t be an “excuse” it’ll be we made a bad hire. You’re arguing all over the place, you basically said nobody worth a **** would want to come here. The next hire here will be nothing like hiring at the time of Cuonzo or Tyndall. The leadership and alignment on campus is night and day better than it’s been at any point in the last 15 years.

 

[TJSVOLS]

No, but when we suck again (like Wade Houston years), I won’t watch and will barely keep track. I’m getting too old to waste my time and run up my heart rate.

And before you retort with sanctimonious “true fan” BS, I group up in Knoxville, graduated from UT and I’m a donor.

I could care less if you are a true fan or not, or where you grew up I was just wondering if you were being made to watch. And yes they are going through a tough stretch, but IF you are comparing them to the Houston years then your Probably right you shouldn’t watch you are too old.

 

[BisonVol]

Every coach is either a mid-major or an assistant to begin with. I’m unfamiliar with the coach who said I’m going to be a coach and was hired by a blue-blood as a HC immediately.

You’re not wrong on that . The point is that if we made a coaching change (not sure if you suggested that, trying to follow multiple threads is hard), we would hire a coach from the mid major ranks which is far from a sure thing. Our recent history with mid major coaches suggests the odds of it working out aren’t the best.

Buzz: nope
Pearl: yep
Cuonzo: most would say nope
Tyndall: definitely a nope

 

[BigOrangeFanatic]

Just curious why the $6 million coach hasn't coached them up. Team plays like they are coached. If it's coaching when they win then it's coaching when they lose. You cannot have it both ways.

It's always coaching. Never the players executing. Lol.

I've been down on this team and the coaching as much as anyone in here. But you can't tell me there's any chance we even have a prayer of winning this game if Barnes doesn't go small and take ON out of the game in the second half. That's the only reason we got back in the game. He actually for once got over his stubbornness to keep watching ON either throw the ball away or dribble it off his foot, or force some terrible shot up all freaking game and decided to go with the younger guys. That, together with Key having a huge night lead to us getting back in the game.

Again...ZZ and Santi let their team down tonight. Awaka had a dumb move at the end but you have to hit free throws at the end. That's not coaching. That's players executing.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

There won’t be an “excuse” it’ll be we made a bad hire. You’re arguing all over the place, you basically said nobody worth a **** would want to come here. The next hire here will be nothing like hiring at the time of Cuonzo or Tyndall. The leadership and alignment on campus is night and day better than it’s been at any point in the last 15 years.

I said hiring an “elite coach” would be slim considering there’s only a handful of those in college basketball right now.

If we strike gold on an up & comer, I’ll be tickled to death but it’s always going to be a risk considering you don’t know what you’re truly getting.

 

[UTFanHades]

You do know Barnes is closer to 70 than 60 and that we will be replacing him sooner than later.

Also, 4 of our last 5 coaches who were here more than a year went to at least the sweet 16 and won 20+ games multiple times.

The idea we won't ever have a good coach again is just silly.

Oh boy-now you’ve done it. Oats is about to win a non-shared conference regular season title in again in year 4, something Barnes has never done here. The level of infallibility attributed to him is absurd.

 

[2EastTnVols]

When Barnes retires his successor may not be as good, or he might. I'm just ready for something different. Barnes is still a good coach, but at this point the way the seasons are going to play out is pretty predictable.

 

[SouthknoxTN07]

I heard Jerry Green was gonna come back

 

[AthensVol2007]

You’re not wrong on that . The point is that if we made a coaching change (not sure if you suggested that, trying to follow multiple threads is hard), we would hire a coach from the mid major ranks which is far from a sure thing. Our recent history with mid major coaches suggests the odds of it working out aren’t the best.

Buzz: nope
Pearl: yep
Cuonzo: most would say nope
Tyndall: definitely a nope

No, I’m not suggesting a new HC but I am suggesting the pool of candidates would be significantly better than it’s been at any point in my lifetime and I’m 38. There’s no NCAA cloud, no cloud of faux racism, no buffoons in leadership etc. Pearl and Barnes have proven you can win here.

 

[VolArmy74]

Oh boy-now you’ve done it. Oats is about to win a non-shared conference regular season title in year 2, something Barnes has never done here. The level of infallibility attributed to him is absurd.

People are still stuck in the Wade Houston/Buzz Peterson mentality. Even though that was 20 and 30+ years ago.

No one except the occasional blue blood hires "elite" coaches and even they don't very often. Duke and North Carolina didn't. Arizona hired a Gonzaga assistant. Texas was able to get Baird, but he was a Texas alum at a small school.

Almost every coaching hire is a "take a chance on someone" type coach. Fortunately for us, we have Danny White, who is pretty good at finding guys. Hopefully we still have White when Barnes retires.

We have a great foundation. A great arena. Big money. A great fan base and a really good recruiting region. Every coach we've had that I can remember has been able to sign extremely talented players. They've not all been able to coach them well, but talent came here. I don't see why the talent part would be any different for any coach we hire in the future. Just have to hope White's skill at identifying guys like Oates are still sharp.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

This team is absolute garbage, regular season wins remaining schedule under 3

According to your anti Barnes crowd, the regular season doesn’t matter or does that only apply to you to fit your narrative?

 

[OrangeBoro]

According to your anti Barnes crowd, the regular season doesn’t matter or does that only apply to you to fit your narrative?

It matters when a bad team needs a good seed. Barnes can’t win when he’s the higher seed, what’s going to happen being the lower seed? We all know what happens

 

[BIG SEXY]

Bill Self
Tony Bennett
Tom Izzo
Mark Few
Scott Drew

I’d put those coaches in that elite category.

Barnes beat Self and Few this year.

 

[AthensVol2007]

I said hiring an “elite coach” would be slim considering there’s only a handful of those in college basketball right now.

If we strike gold on an up & comer, I’ll be tickled to death but it’s always going to be a risk considering you don’t know what you’re truly getting.

There’s not necessarily only a handful of them. These guys in mid-majors are a conference tournament loss away from being left out of the NCAAT and not getting the chance to prove themselves. Of course we’re not hiring Self, Cal, Few etc. Still plenty of guys that can be and are already elite out there.

 

[Volhoops]

It's always coaching. Never the players executing. Lol.

I've been down on this team and the coaching as much as anyone in here. But you can't tell me there's any chance we even have a prayer of winning this game if Barnes doesn't go small and take ON out of the game in the second half. That's the only reason we got back in the game. He actually for once got over his stubbornness to keep watching ON either throw the ball away or dribble it off his foot, or force some terrible shot up all freaking game and decided to go with the younger guys. That, together with Key having a huge night lead to us getting back in the game.

Again...ZZ and Santi let their team down tonight. Awaka had a dumb move at the end but you have to hit free throws at the end. That's not coaching. That's players executing.

I'll say it again the players play like they are coached. Barnes failed again in his recruiting by not having another point guard other than ZZ. He has failed to bring in a consistent scorer so we have what we have. A mediocre team that has no tournament chance again. They should have let him go to UCLA instead of giving him $6 million that he had not earned.

 

[SGMVols]

Idc at this point. All we will ever be is a “Defensive” minded team under Barnes who wins some games in the regular season and looses in the second round of the tourney. Are you okay with that smart guy?

We just scored 85 points and lost

If you don’t understand the importance of defense now then you just don’t know basketball

 

[2EastTnVols]

I'll say it again the players play like they are coached. Barnes failed again in his recruiting by not having another point guard other than ZZ. He has failed to bring in a consistent scorer so we have what we have. A mediocre team that has no tournament chance again. They should have let him go to UCLA instead of giving him $6 million that he had not earned.

I bet ucla is glad they didn't get him now.

 

[Tenacjim]

I could care less if you are a true fan or not, or where you grew up I was just wondering if you were being made to watch. And yes they are going through a tough stretch, but IF you are comparing them to the Houston years then your Probably right you shouldn’t watch you are too old.

It’s all context genius. Look at the post I responded to. “Who do we get after Barnes/we go back to the dark ages”. If that happens, I quit wasting my Saturday nights and raising my blood pressure watching poor basketball. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory two games in a row is “poor basketball”.

So thank you for your sincere concern, no one is forcing me to watch. I value my time and don’t want to waste it watching poor basketball. That includes both unimaginably stupid play at the end of two virtually “won” games in a row OR total Wade Houston ineptitude.

 

[SGMVols]

I'll say it again the players play like they are coached. Barnes failed again in his recruiting by not having another point guard other than ZZ. He has failed to bring in a consistent scorer so we have what we have. A mediocre team that has no tournament chance again. They should have let him go to UCLA instead of giving him $6 million that he had not earned.

If he had gone to UCLA you would’ve had PHILLIP FULMER running a basketball coaching search. That would’ve been a dumpster fire of epic proportions.

 

[Jravol78]

I heard Jerry Green was gonna come back

This season reminds me of his last year here.

 

[2EastTnVols]

If he had gone to UCLA you would’ve had PHILLIP FULMER running a basketball coaching search. That would’ve been a dumpster fire of epic proportions.

That is an excellent point. I hadn't considered that