KNOXVILLE - In his first season as Tennessee's basketball coach, Rick Barnes brought back one tradition from several decades ago.
The recent resurrection of another tradition won't continue, though, under his watch.
Barnes said Monday he doesn't plan to wear the bright orange blazer his three predecessors donned when the Volunteers host in-state rival Vanderbilt on Wednesday night.
Ray Mears and his coaches wore the orange sport coats during the 1970s, and recent Tennessee coaches Bruce Pearl, Cuonzo Martin and Donnie Tyndall broke out the look for the rivalry games against Kentucky and Vanderbilt.
Barnes, who brought back the giant "T" for players to run through onto the court before the game, won't wear an orange blazer, though.
"I appreciate tradition, but I don't want this program to ever be about me," he explained. "I don't want people coming to the game wondering if I'm going to wear an orange blazer, or a tie, or not a tie. I don't particularly like my name being on the radio show.
"The coach's show, we did a segment last week called 'Barnes' Breakdown,' and when I walked in I saw this board and I said, 'Look, I don't want my name there.' I'm not the University of Tennessee basketball program. Really, I don't want it to be about me. I think it should always be about the university first. I think it should be about the players."
Barnes said he'd be open to wearing an orange blazer if it could be auctioned off afterward for a charity in Knoxville. He recalled coaching against Arkansas while he was at Texas when John Pelphrey wore a red coat. Pelphrey told Barnes the coat was being auctioned off after the game.
Before his postgame news conference Barnes usually greets Gus Manning, the Tennessee legend who's been around the Vols since the days of Gen. Robert Neyland in the 1950s, and he had Dale Ellis, the two-time SEC player of the year with the Vols in the early 1980s, speak to his players during their trip to Seattle for the Gonzaga game last month.
Barnes said he doesn't have an orange blazer.
"I just don't want it to be about me," he continued. "I don't want this program to be about me. I want it to be about the University of Tennessee and the players. Believe me, I have great reverence for the past, the coaches and the players that have come before our players.
"I don't think I should be the billboard for the University of Tennessee."
The Vols face Vanderbilt for the 189th time at Thompson-Boling Arena for the first of two meetings with the Commodores this season. Tennessee took two of three games against Vanderbilt last season, winning in overtime at Memorial Gym and with a stirring comeback in the SEC tournament.
Tennessee's 219th and 220th meetings with Kentucky are up next month.
For the first time since 2005, Tennessee's coach won't be in orange for a game against the Commodores or Wildcats.
"I don't want anybody to think I'm disrespecting anything," Barnes said. "It's not any of that. We want to take this program to the highest heights it can go, and I think it can go to the top. And when it is I still want it to be about the University of Tennessee and the players, because they're the one that are going to get it there."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.