KNOXVILLE -- There were about five hours of uncertainty for Chris Ogden.
That's how long one of Tennessee's new assistant basketball coaches was unemployed after head coach Rick Barnes and his staff were let go at Texas in March.
When a phone call from Barnes, who recruited and coached Ogden at Texas and added him as a full-time assistant coach in 2008, came asking him to join Barnes at Tennessee, the answer was easy.
"We got the hammer on Saturday at, let's call it 3, and then about 8 or 8:30, he calls me that night," Ogden recalled Tuesday morning. "I was throwing washers in a friend's back yard and having a couple drinks. He says, 'Hey, I'm going to do a press conference here tomorrow at Texas, then I'm going to get on a plane and head to Tennessee. They've offered me the job and I'll come pick you up on Wednesday.'
"It was," he then deadpanned, "a really stressful five hours."
Ogden's hometown of Seminole, Texas, is about 1,666 miles -- that's a 25-hour drive -- from Buffalo, where Rob Lanier and Desmond Oliver, the other two coaches on Barnes' first staff with the Volunteers, grew up together.
The relationship between Lanier, who followed Barnes from Texas, and Oliver, a former Georgia assistant who last coached at Charlotte, goes back more than 30 years, to when they were 12 and 10.
Growing up in urban Buffalo, Oliver recalled him and Lanier getting up jump shots in the dark, when the street courts weren't full, by putting a flashlight in a shoe and pointing it at the basket.
Lanier's favored memory was coaches from the programs that were recruiting him -- he played at St. Bonaventure -- calling Oliver's house because his didn't have a phone.
The two were the best man at each other's wedding.
"Very seldom do you get the opportunity to work with someone who truly is your best friend, but the reality is he's really good, and that's why it's exciting for me," Lanier said. "I would feel some trepidation about my best friend coming if I didn't think he was really, really good. I can make that recommendation with the utmost confidence.
"I would say this: We've already gotten better as a staff because he's here. What I've known about him since he was a young guy is that he's a grinder. He'll probably be the last one (remaining) in the office every day. I'm definitely leaving before him. He's a grinder, and we needed that, his presence on the staff."
Oliver knew Barnes and Ogden through his best friend, meaning Tennessee's new staff is one built on familiarity.
"I've known these guys for a while prior to coming in here and getting this job," Oliver said. "Most jobs you come in as the outsider, not really knowing the head coach or the guys you're going to work with. It's a little uncomfortable for a while. From day one I've come in and hit the ground running, and it's been very comfortable getting adjusted.
"Having been in the area before, at Georgia and Charlotte, I feel like I can come in here and really be their eyes and ears and answer a lot of questions that they may have as a new staff, in terms of recruiting, to really help us hit the ground running and get involved with some good guys."
In four years as a player for Barnes, Ogden averaged just 1.7 points. He was a senior on the 2003 Final Four team featuring T.J. Ford, James Thomas, Brandon Mouton and Royal Ivey that ran into eventual national champion Syracuse, led by star freshman Carmelo Anthony.
Ogden joked that he's still the "former player" Barnes still ribs. The two often argue, Ogden said, about which of their hometowns is more "country." According to Ogden, Seminole has a population of 5,000 and three stoplights, which he believes is more than enough to compete with the "Hickory charm" Barnes developed growing up in Western North Carolina.
Of course, Ogden readily admits playing for Barnes is the reason he got into coaching.
"I know what he wants," Ogden said. "I know what he needs to win. I know what kind of players that make him tick. I think that's been a big part of it. A lot of times, I can almost finish his sentences in practice. I just think there's familiarity and comfortability there."
That combination is what Barnes and his coaches hope will help them get Tennessee's basketball program back on track.
"For all the excitement about us being here, we're here because we got let go," Lanier said. "We've got to take a step back and say how can we get better, how can we do things better and take ourselves to another level. Des is a big part of that equation in terms of some new energy, some new ideas, a new approach.
"This whole environment just is an energizing experience for all of us."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.