The email arrived early Wednesday morning. It concerned Tennessee's Tuesday hiring of 60-year-old Rick Barnes to lead its men's basketball program.
"He is too old to relate to 17-year-old kids that make you a winner in basketball," it began. "He will not be able to recruit...Barnes will be gone in three years."
If other negative emails are any indication among the significant minority of Volniacs unhappy with this hire - 75.8 percent of respondents to this newspaper's online poll have been in favor of Barnes - their frustration seems to center on the new UT coach's age.
But before anyone makes too big a deal of his 60 years on the planet - Barnes will actually turn 61 before the 2015-16 season begins - it's probably worth noting that three of this year's Final Four coaches are as old or older than the new UT coach and that three of those coaches (though not the same three) beat guys younger than them to reach college basketball's ultimate stage.
And the one who did defeat an older coach - Michigan State's 60-year-old Tom Izzo - kept Louisville's 62-year-old Rick Pitino from reaching his third Final Four in four years.
As Dick Vitale might say, these cats aren't getting older, they're getting better, Ba-a-a-ab-e-e-e-e!
This is also worth noting: Not a single candidate for any open job in this country has a better resume than Barnes. Neither Wichita State's Gregg Marshall, VCU's Shaka Smart, Dayton's Archie Miller nor Xavier's Chris Mack has reached 16 NCAA Tournaments in 17 years, as Barnes did at Texas. None of those coaches has been to more Final Fours than Barnes, who's reached one. Nor have they reached more Elite Eights than Barnes's three.
True, they haven't been at it as long, but Smart - who famously guided VCU from the NCAA tourney's "First Four" to the Final Four in 2011 - hasn't gotten past the round of 32 since then.
UT fans should also consider this: The Tennessee men have reached the NCAA tourney but 20 times in school history. Barnes has made it 22 times in his 28 seasons as a Division I head coach. Beyond that, other than possibly Oklahoma's Lon Kruger, it's hard to think of another coach anywhere who will have compiled 20-win seasons at five Division I schools, which Barnes will have done if he can engineer one with the Vols, since he's already recorded those at George Mason, Providence, Clemson and Texas.
Does this mean that no one the Vols could have hired would not ultimately prove better than Barnes? Absolutely not. That's the unknown of the coaching business. He might prove too old. He might not find that fire necessary to revive UT to the level it reached under former coach Bruce Pearl, who reached the NCAA tourney each of his six seasons, advancing to the Sweet 16 three times and the Elite Eight once.
Then again, there was this quote from Barnes at his introductory press conference when he was asked if getting canned at Texas drove him to take the Tennessee job, if only to prove to people he could still succeed: "I wouldn't be honest with you if I said it didn't have an impact."
Smart folks allow their elders to impact their lives by the wisdom those elders pass on, if allowed. As he joined the Voice of the Vols, Bob Kesling, on the radio Tuesday afternoon, Barnes recalled his years as a young Davidson assistant in the Southern Conference.
"I learned so much about recruiting back then from great coaches such as Murray Arnold at Chattanooga, Bob Zuffelato at Marshall and Les Robinson at The Citadel," he said. "They taught me so much."
He obviously learned well, because no one wins 604 games (and counting) at a 69 percent clip without knowing what how to win.
And as this Final Four shows, what with Kentucky's 56-year-old John Calipari the babe of the bunch alongside the 60-year-old Izzo, Wisconsin's 67-year-old Bo Ryan and Duke's 68-year-old Mike Krzyzewski, sometimes older and wiser is better.
Or to borrow the words of another email that reached my inbox Wednesday morning, its author proud to proclaim he was 70 years young: "Any way you cut it, (UT basketball) is looking up. I'm tired of reading that Barnes was 60 and worn out. I am 70 and want fans to see the Final Four coaches have age and experience. Tennessee is better off today than it was last week."
Whatever happens next, that much should be obvious to Big Orange fans of any age.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.