Rick Barnes wants Tennessee playing 'national schedule'

Former University of Texas head basketball coach Rick Barnes, left, shakes hands with athletic director Dave Hart after being named the new head coach at the University of Tennessee on Tuesday, March 31, 2015, in Knoxville.
Former University of Texas head basketball coach Rick Barnes, left, shakes hands with athletic director Dave Hart after being named the new head coach at the University of Tennessee on Tuesday, March 31, 2015, in Knoxville.

KNOXVILLE -- Rick Barnes learned the hard way very early in his career coaching career that it's important to play a challenging non-conference schedule.

That's what Tennessee's new basketball coach plans to do with the Volunteers.

During his hour-long speech to the Big Orange Tip-Off Club on Wednesday afternoon, Barnes said he's spoken to North Carolina coach Roy Williams and Maryland about playing games and hinted the Vols will play a home-and-home with Gonzaga, with the return game likely in Nashville, the next two seasons.

Barnes later confirmed to a handful of media that Tennessee will join Cincinnati, Nebraska and George Washington in the Barclays Center Classic in Brooklyn the week of Thanksgiving.

SEC teams Ole Miss and Vanderbilt have played in the event in recent seasons.

"If you're going to be a national program, you've got to play a national schedule," he told a crowded room of fans. "You've got to be willing to go north, south, east, west and want to play the very best.

"We want to bring the big teams in here," he added. "We want to do that, because it changes the perception. Once you get good, playing that schedule gets easier."

Though four positions in his program have been finalized, Barnes said there's no rush right now to name a strength coach or director of operations while he tries to get Tennessee's 2015-16 schedule finalized.

On the strength coach front, the Vols likely are waiting to see what Todd Wright will do. Wright spent the past 21 seasons with Barnes at Clemson and Texas, but is exploring other potential opportunities. Todd Moyer, a holdover from Donnie Tyndall's staff, has led players through offseason workouts on a temporary basis.

Barnes recalled one of his Providence teams narrowly missing the NCAA tournament, and that's fueled his desire to play top-notch schedules in the nearly three decades since then.

It'll continue to do so as he takes aim at his goal of getting Tennessee into the NCAA tournament on a yearly basis.

"There's an art to scheduling," he said. "The bottom line is we don't ever want to be in a position that what we do in the non-league affects what happens in postseason play. We don't ever want to be in that situation.

"I think players, I think fans -- we all like the build-up of big games, and I don't think now because of the way the NCAA (selection) committee, they really work at this. The one thing they do frown on is teams who don't compete and play a hard schedule.

"Teams that are in that position that don't get in, it goes back to strength of schedule. Some years your league's going to be better than other years, and I like what the SEC is talking about with flex scheduling. I think all that's great, but all I know what we definitely can control is our non-league schedule.

"We've got to make it not only what's good for us, but the fans. They deserve to have a team that is willing to play anybody, any place, anywhere."

Here are five other items of note from Barnes's debut at the Big Orange Tip-Off Club:

> Of the players on his returning roster, Barnes said Robert Hubbs's athleticism, Kevin Punter's work ethic and Armani Moore's toughness have stood out so far.

The coaching transition, Barnes said, has been really tough on Moore, who will play his senior season under his third head coach.

"I think he really kind of wanted to get away, and he's one of the first players I had a really serious talk with," Barnes said. "He kind of wanted to step away from the game. I sat down with him, and we had a great talk.

"My Bible was there on my desk, and I went through Psalms 1 with him. That night ... he'd sent me a wonderful text that said, 'Coach, I am really glad that you're here and I know that God brought us together.' He's a great kid, and those are the kids that you love."

> It's almost unheard of in this day and age, but Barnes has never had an agent.

"If I can't work with you, my boss, we've got a problem," he said of what he tells athletic directors. "There's got to be a trust level."

At Texas, he did not sign a contract for seven years, and when athletic director DeLoss Dodds asked him about a buyout, Barnes said he didn't believe in them.

His explanation: "If I don't want to be here, why would you want me here? And if you don't want me here, I can't be here."

> When he was trying to break into coaching, Barnes had his wife, Candy, help him write letters to various college programs asking if they had any available spots for a graduate assistant role, and he still has a return letter from Tennessee, which told Barnes in 1977 they didn't have a spot for him.

Barnes once interviewed for an assistant coaching job at Duke under Mike Krzyzewski.

> Asked about his preferred playing style, Barnes said he wants to play fast offensively, but he hopes to continue to build his program on defense -- primarily a man-to-man with a mixture of zone -- and rebounding.

"We know that can be a constant," he said. "That can be there every night, whether you're at home or on the road. We all know there's nights you just can't make a shot, but if you play defense, you rebound and you take care of the ball, you're going to have a chance every night."

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.

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