Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes during the NCAA college basketball game against Missouri on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, in Knoxville, Tenn. Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Former Texas Longhorns Assistant Joining Rick Barnes at Tennessee

Originally posted on Texas Longhorns on SI
By Zach Dimmitt | Last updated May 10, 2025 2:19 PM ET

Former Texas Longhorns head coach Rick Barnes is adding some veteran experience to his Tennessee Volunteers coaching staff for the 2025-26 season.

Per reports from On3's Joe Tipton, Tennessee is hiring former Texas assistant Steve McClain, who spent the past three seasons in Austin. He was the Special Assistant to the Head Coach during the 2022-23 season before moving into a role as an assistant coach under Rodney Terry for the past two years.

McClain joins Frank Haith (Texas A&M) and Brandon Chappell (Arizona) as the other two former assistants under Terry that have since landed new coaching jobs following the arrival of Sean Miller's new staff.

McClain, 62, has been coaching since 1982 and doesn't appear close to being done. A fiery and energetic presence on the sideline during his time at Texas, he'll now look to bring a similar feel to Knoxville on Barnes' staff.

McClain previously served in assistant roles at TCU, Colorado, Indiana and Georgia. He was also the head coach at Wyoming from 1998 to 2007 before eventually taking the same role at University of Illinois at Chicago from 2015 to 2020.

As a head coach across 14 seasons at the Division I level, McClain compiled a 324-224 career record. He took Wyoming to the NCAA Tournament in 2002 where the No. 11 seed Cowboys beat the sixth-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs in the first round before falling to No. 3 Arizona in the Round of 32.

Wyoming has not won an NCAA Tournament game since that season.

As for the Longhorns, the announcement of Miller's new staff made McClain's departure expected. Texas has since hired Xavier assistant coaches David Miller, Adam Cohen and Ryan Anderson along with Kansas State and former Texas assistant Ulric Maligi and Indiana assistant coach Kenya Hunter. Texas has also hired Xavier strength coach Andy Kettler along with retaining Chris Ogden as Texas' General Manager.

This article first appeared on Texas Longhorns on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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