KNOXVILLE – Tennessee’s Rick Barnes was announced Monday as the winner of the 2019 Henry Iba Award as the men’s basketball national coach of the year. That comes from the United States Basketball Writers Association.
Barnes has guided the Volunteers to a 31-5 record, which included a 19-game win streak and the No. 1 ranking in the country for four weeks. He will be presented the Iba Award at the USBWA’s college awards dinner on April 15 at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis.
“I think that when coaches get awards it goes directly back to their players and their staff, because we all know that it’s a team effort and we are in it together,” Barnes said Monday. “I know what Henry Iba did for the game of basketball. I had a chance to really get to know Eddie Sutton, who obviously played for Mr. Iba; I heard so many wonderful stories about him. It’s truly an honor, a personal honor, but it wouldn’t have happened without my other coaches.
“I think I have the best coaching staff in the country. And obviously what the players do, that’s what it comes down to for the success we have had.”
Tennessee, the No. 2 seed in the South Region of the NCAA tournament, will face Purdue in the Sweet 16 round Thursday at 7:20 p.m. at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.