High school graduates often give bold predictions about where they will be in ten years.
In 2008, had someone asked the Tennessee basketball program where it sees itself in ten years, the answer would likely have been overwhelmingly positive. The response probably would have revolved around then-head coach Bruce Pearl and his intellectual basketball mind or his golden touch on the recruiting trail.
Pearl had Tennessee, a known entity in football and women’s basketball, excelling on the hardwood. The Vols, who had just won the SEC regular season championship and set a school record for wins with 31, prepared to repeat that feat in Pearl’s fourth season as the head man at Tennessee.
Pearl entered the season as the reigning SEC Coach of the Year, and Chris Lofton joined Tyler Smith on the 2007-08 first-team All-SEC squad.
“We’re going to compete for the SEC Championship,” Pearl said at the 2008 Tennessee basketball media day. “I’m confident this is a basketball team that will have what it takes to defend our championship.”
The 2008-09 season came and went. Tennessee finished 21-13 in the regular season, but fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Ten years have come and gone since that season.
Time has brought good and bad for the Tennessee basketball program. During that decade, Pearl lost his job as the Vols’ head coach after an NCAA investigation into unethical conduct and violations in 2010 and 2011.
“The cumulative effect of the evolution of the investigation combined with a number of more recent non-NCAA-related incidents have led to a belief that this staff cannot be viable at Tennessee in the future,” then-Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton said.
Pearl’s departure brought Cuonzo Martin, who coached at Tennessee from 2011-14 before declining a contract extension and accepting a job at the University of California.
Martin’s void was filled by Donnie Tyndall, whose tenure as the Vols’ head coach lasted just one season. His fate? The same as Pearl’s, a firing because of NCAA violations.
Ten years after Pearl had been hired, the Vols were looking for their fourth head coach in six years.
Insert Rick Barnes, who had just been fired by the University of Texas despite holding the school record with 402 wins. Barnes had recently turned 60 but was not ready to retire.
And on March 31, 2015, Tennessee gave Barnes another chance to coach.
“Rick (Barnes) brings an extremely impressive track record of excellence, as well as much-needed stability, to our men’s basketball program,” then Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart said. “This is an exciting day for our Tennessee family.”
Now, Barnes has begun his fourth season as the head coach at Tennessee. Like Pearl, he enters his fourth year coming off a regular season SEC Championship.
The similarities do not stop there.
Both coaches saw their win total increase each of their first three seasons. Both coaches were named the SEC Coach of the Year in their third season. Both coaches had players named to All-SEC honors during their third year as head coach. And both coaches had their team in the preseason top 25 heading into year four.
However, there is one striking difference amongst the myriad of parallels. Barnes returns his top six scorers from his third season, whereas Pearl lost five of his top nine players going into his fourth season.
“I have no doubt in my mind that this year we will be way more consistent,” senior Admiral Schofield said. “I think everyone’s urgency and everyone’s focus is being better than we were last year.”
The parallels with Pearl, heading into Barnes’ fourth season, certainly exist. But the Vols are looking to achieve more than the 2008-09 team, which was knocked out in the first round of the tournament.
For Barnes, it starts with a mentality.
“Once we got through with the season … we went in a room and talked about where we were and what we had done last year,” Barnes said. “We simply said, ‘Now that’s over with; that’s done with. We’ve got to start over like every team in the country. We don’t get to start back where we finished.’”
So, ten years later, the story is not complete. Barnes has fans clambering for men’s basketball tickets once again.
He simply wants to see his players, and the program, continue to improve.
“You are going to have to continue to get better for the next 10 years if you want basketball to be a part of your future,” Barnes said.
Rick Barnes, head coach of the University of Tennessee men's basketball team during the game against North Carolina at Thompson-Boling Arena on Dec. 17, 2017.
