Richard Barnes (born July 17, 1954) is an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach who is currently the head coach at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

. He is also known for coaching at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

from 1998 to 2015, taking the team to the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

in 16 of his 17 seasons—including 14 straight from 1999 to 2012—as well as a Final Four appearance in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. Barnes also previously coached at

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Roman Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, it offers 47 undergraduate Academic ...

, and

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

. He has an overall record of 28–26 (.519) in the NCAA tournament (including 19–16 while at Texas).

Early life

Barnes was born on July 17, 1954, and grew up in

Hickory, North Carolina Hickory is a city in western North Carolina primarily located in Catawba County, North Carolina, Catawba County. The List of municipalities in North Carolina, 25th most populous city in the state, it is located approximately northwest of Charlot ...

. He is a 1977 graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne College where he was a member of the men's basketball team.

Coaching career

Barnes served as an assistant under Eddie Biedenbach at Davidson for two seasons and one with Wimp Sanderson at

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. Prior to coaching at Texas, Barnes coached at

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, where he was one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution. His wr ...

, Providence, and Clemson. Barnes advanced to three NCAA tournaments at Providence and three consecutive at Clemson before leaving for Texas in 1998. Barnes won his first post-season conference tournament championship in 1994, while at Providence. At Clemson, his Tigers spent one week of the 1996–97 season ranked second in the AP Poll, the highest ranking in school history.

Texas

Barnes was hired by Texas in April 1998, and the basketball program immediately displayed his impact. Despite playing with just seven scholarship players for the majority of the 1998–99 season and opening the season with a 3–8 record, the Longhorns won 16 of their final 21 games, winning the regular season Big 12 conference championship by a two-game margin, and finishing the year at 19–13 and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. Barnes' success at Texas, a traditional football powerhouse, sparked interest in college basketball at the university and throughout the state. At Texas, Barnes won a school-record 402 games and transformed the school into one of the top college basketball programs in the nation. He guided the Longhorns to 16 NCAA tournament appearances. They reached the Final Four in 2003, their first in over 50 years, and advanced to the Elite Eight in 2006 and 2008. He also led Texas to their first #1 ranking in 2010, and led the Longhorns to the first 30-win seasons in school history. He coached two national players of the year: T. J. Ford (2003) and

Kevin Durant Kevin Wayne Durant (born September 29, 1988), also known by his initials KD, is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Durant has won two List of NBA champions, NBA champ ...

(2007). He also won four Big 12 Coach of the Year awards (1999, 2003, 2008, 2014) during his time in Austin, establishing himself as a nationally regarded coach. He was fired in 2015 after Texas failed to advance to the Sweet 16 for the seventh straight season.

Tennessee

Barnes was hired by the Tennessee Volunteers in 2015. He was the Vols' third coach in as many seasons. Cuonzo Martin had left for

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

after the 2013–14 season; his successor, Donnie Tyndall, had been fired after just one season for lying about NCAA violations at his previous stop, Southern Mississippi. Barnes increased the Vols' win total in each of his first four seasons. In 2018, he was named Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Volunteers to a share of their first regular-season SEC title in a decade and a spot in the conference championship game, earning his sixth-career conference coach of the year award. In 2018–19, he was named the Naismith College Coach of the Year after the Vols finished 31–6 (tying a school record for wins in a season) and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. They were ranked No. 1 for several weeks during the season, only the second time that the Vols have been ranked that high. He coached Grant Williams in his All-American season. Williams was Tennessee's first player to be named a first-team All American since Dale Ellis in the 1982–83 season. In the 2019–20 season, Barnes won his 700th game as a head coach with a victory over Jacksonville State. In the 2021–22 season, Barnes led Tennessee to their first SEC Tournament title since the 1978–79 season. In the 2023–24 season, Barnes earned his 800th career win as a head coach in a victory over Texas A&M. The Volunteers won the SEC regular season outright for the sixth time in school history.

Personal life

He has two children with his wife Candy. His son is a missionary overseas. His daughter Carley lives in Texas. Barnes is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. He has said, “I’m just thankful that God, you know, He won’t let go of you. I don’t think there’s any question He had me when I was young, but I let the world take me down a road and roads that I shouldn’t have gone. But I believe that once He gets a hold of you, He won’t let you go. I think He has great plans to help me become more and more like Him every day.” He has also said, “Honestly, I just think the biggest thing is that we should want to share our faith. We should want our players to understand who Jesus Christ is. They should see us living that every single day.” In 2007, Barnes made a cameo appearance in the NBC television series ''Friday Night Lights'' as a recruiter for the fictional school TMU.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Coaching statistics
at

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey ...