ESPN puts Rick Barnes on a list that Tennessee Vol fans won't like, but it's a gross oversimplification of the circumstance

Look, Rick Barnes isn't as young as springtime anymore. At 71 years old, the head coach of the Tennessee Vols has had to start answering questions about when he's eventually going to hang them up and move on to retirement.

One writer at ESPN wonders if that time could be coming sooner than later. College basketball insider Jeff Borzello put out a list of coaches he's concerned could be next in the wave of older coaches to step down after a handful did last season, and Barnes was included among the ones he mentioned.

This is what Borzello had to say:

"The future of the old coaching guard. Three ACC coaches stepped down last season: Virginia's Tony Bennett, Miami's Jim Larranaga and Florida State's Leonard Hamilton. Bennett cited the changing landscape of college sports, while Larranaga and Hamilton had reached the natural end of their careers. It's tough to predict who the next Bennett could be, but retirement could be on the horizon for a group of coaches at or near the top of the sport: Houston's Kelvin Sampson will be 70 in the fall, Tennessee's Rick Barnes is 71, Michigan State's Tom Izzo is 70 and St. John's coach Rick Pitino is 72. It also wouldn't be a surprise to see Gonzaga's Mark Few or Kansas' Bill Self call it quits in the not-so-distant future." Jeff Borzello, ESPN.com

Borzello's look at the situation isn't a blazing hot take, since Barnes is now in his seventies, but just because he's older doesn't necessarily mean that the sun is setting on his career. If anything, he's doing as well as he ever has, with back-to-back Elite Eight seasons and players hearing their names in the NBA Draft from year to year.

And Barnes already addressed those rumblings about his retirement recently, talking about what he's looking for when he decides it's time to call it a career.

“But I’ll tell you this. I’ll tell you exactly what I tell my coaches. I want to make sure that we get good enough players that we can compete every year because this university, this state, our fans deserve that.  If I don’t think we’re doing that, I think that would be my answer, it’s time to get away from it.”

Tennessee should again be an SEC title and Final Four contender in 2025-26, with freshman phenom and likely top five NBA pick Nate Ament leading the way. And Barnes has remained strong in the transfer portal and on the recruiting trail, so there are no signs the foundation is cracking in Knoxville.

And until that happens, no one should expect to see the legendary coach ride out of Knoxville and off into the sunset.