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Tennessee Makes Historic Rick Barnes Announcement Amid NCAA Tournament

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Max Escarpio | Last updated Mar 30, 2025 1:36 PM ET

The Tennessee Volunteers have been extremely successful on their road to a national title, riding the leadership of head coach Rick Barnes.

Tennessee is set to face the Houston Cougars in the Elite Eight, having already defeated Kentucky, UCLA and Wofford in the NCAA Tournament.

Following their win over Kentucky, Barnes became the winningest active head coach in men's NCAA Division I.

Barnes passed former Kentucky Wildcats head coach and current Arkansas Razorbacks head coach John Calipari for the major feat, earning his 836th win by defeating Kentucky, 78-65, in the Sweet 16. Barnes is 836-422 in his 38th year of coaching.

Calipari and St. John's head coach Rick Pitino have technically earned more career wins, but both have had victories vacated from their record due to NCAA violations.

oh by the way

Rick Barnes is now the winningest active DI men's basketball coach pic.twitter.com/RQlX6x4gYA
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) March 29, 2025

Barnes has been with the Tennessee Volunteers since 2015. He previously coached for the Texas Longhorns, from 1998 to 2015, but was ultimately fired from the historic program.

He's also spent time at Clemson, Providence and George Mason during his prestigious college basketball career.

This season, Tennessee has been led by transfer Chaz Lanier, who has averaged 18.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

The Volunteers also have earned great production from the ever-so-consistent Zakai Zeigler, who has averaged 13.9 points, 7.5 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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