Plain and simple, many people criticize Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes for the Vols' lack of tournament success. While he does share blame for their failures, it is odd that in a sport with so many other accomplishments, Barnes never seems to get credit for the amount he wins. The narrative around him should be different.
Most people don't understand that if you were to write a book on the history of college basketball, Tennessee doesn't get mentioned in it. The program has one Elite Eight appearance in its history, and that's the furthest they've ever gone. We're talking about a program whose winningest coach ever has one Sweet 16 appearance. Tennessee, until Barnes got there, was purely a football school. Let's put some things even further into perspective. Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, Tennessee has had four conference championships between the regular season and conference tournaments. Barnes has half of them. The program also has 7 Sweet 16 appearances, and Barnes has two of them.
Maybe most importantly, though, Barnes has made Tennessee a college basketball destination not just for recruits but for coaches after him. Especially in the era of NIL now, it isn't just some job that can be used as a stepping stone to get a better one. The SEC revolution in basketball has helped with this, and the conference is more invested in basketball than ever. So should the tourney success be a focus? Definitely. Tournament success is also more difficult to come by than people realize. Barnes coached for 16 seasons before he made his first Final Four, and it has taken greater coaches than him longer. We don't know how many years Barnes has left before he decides to retire, but whoever he leaves the program with will be in great shape. As long as Tennessee can continue to win like this, the tournament success will come.
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