When Tennessee hired Rick Barnes as its new basketball coach on March 31st of this year, Vol fans were probably familiar with his track record during 17 seasons with Texas. What fans may not know, however, is Barnes’ history as an actor.
In 2008, Barnes appeared on the popular television show “Friday Night Lights”. In an episode titled “Jumping the Gun” he played the role of a TMU football coach who was recruiting the show’s Brian “Smash” Williams.
Barnes talked about the experience in an interview on SportsTalk last week.
“That came about because my son was living in California and I flew back and I was sitting beside this guy, and I just started carrying on a conversation with him. He told me he was an actor in “Friday Night Lights” and I said, ‘Really?’ They were doing all that in Austin, Texas. He actually said everyone up here on this plane is part of this cast in some way. He pointed to his left and said, ‘That guy right there is the guy that’s in charge of the whole thing.’ He was asleep and I had gotten up and went to the restroom. I came back to my seat, he was awake, and he asked me if I would do a cameo.”
“The funny part was when I went in to get all that makeup on and all that stuff, the way they wanted me to dress, I’m sitting beside this guy. I asked him I said, ‘What are you doing?’ He said, ‘I’m Smash,’ and he’s the star. I said, ‘Well I’m actually going to recruit you today’. I asked him, I said, ‘Where did you play football?’. He said, ‘I’ve never touched a football in my life until I came to this set’. He said, ‘I went to Carnegie Mellon. I’m an actor and they brought me out here three months ahead of time and got me bigger and stronger, but I don’t know anything about football.’”
“My scene was walking into a diner and recruiting him. It was fascinating really to see how it all came about. The good thing about it is I got my SAG card. Every year when all these movies come out I get a vote on the awards for it. But I think my acting days are over.”
“Every now and then I’ll get a check in the mail for about $17-18.”
Forum discussion: Rick Barnes……….The Actor