It's not time to replace Rick Barnes as the Tennessee Vols' head basketball coach just yet.
Barnes, who will turn 70 in July, seems as energized as ever -- especially coming off his first Elite Eight appearance at Tennessee.
But the Hickory, NC native isn't getting any younger. He's undoubtedly in the final stages of his career, even if we aren't quite sure how long that final stage will last.
So it's inevitable that Vols athletic director Danny White will eventually be forced to search for a replacement for Barnes, depending on when the future Hall of Famer decides to retire (maybe this year, maybe five years from now, maybe longer).
And whenever that search eventually happens, we have a pretty good idea of what kind of coach White will target to replace Barnes.
So far, we've seen White make two major hires as Tennessee's athletic director. And both of those hires have something unique in common.
White hired Josh Heupel in early 2021 to replace Jeremy Pruitt as the football program's head coach. And earlier this month, White hired Kim Caldwell, previously the head coach at Marshall, to replace Kellie Harper as the head coach of the Lady Vols.
The common thread between Heupel and Caldwell?
They both like to play fast and they both like to score a lot of points.
Heupel's offenses are routinely among the fastest in college football. And in 2022, Heupel's Tennessee offense led the nation in scoring.
Caldwell is also known for her up-tempo/high-scoring offense (Marshall set a program record by averaging over 85 points per game last season). And that's something that White pointed out on Tuesday during Caldwell's introductory press conference.
"I think the style of play is very compelling with where the game is going," said White while introducing Caldwell. "I think it resonates with the current players. And I was happy to see you all smiling when I was introducing Kim to you. In terms of prospective players in the future, I think it’s a compelling and exciting style of play. For fans, if you like what you’re seeing inside of Neyland Stadium in terms of the amount of points we score, I think you are going to like what you see on the basketball floor, with the offensive and defensive attacking in a competitive style of play. In very short order, we will have the fastest style of basketball in the country."
When it comes time to replace Barnes, I'd expect White to hire the exact same kind of coach he hired when he was tasked with replacing Pruitt and Harper -- an aggressive coach who plays fast and makes scoring as many points as possible a priority.
Now, that doesn't mean that White wants to hire a coach who completely ignores defense -- Heupel and Caldwell both believe in an aggressive style of defense that puts pressure on opponents.
It just means that fans shouldn't expect to see White hire a coach like Virginia's Tony Bennett, a coach who likes to control the clock and limit possessions. Instead, White will almost certainly target a coach that shares a similar mindset as Heupel and Caldwell.
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