Rick Barnes praises Tennessee program, fans after 250th win with the Vols
By David Wasson
Published:
Veteran college basketball coach Rick Barnes earned his 250th victory at Tennessee on Saturday night, as the Volunteers outlasted LSU 73-63 at Food City Center in Knoxville.
After the game, Barnes credited the Volunteer fan base and school for his success at UT – which includes back-to-back Elite Eight runs and two more Sweet 16 appearances in his 11 seasons in Tennessee after a stellar 17-year run with Texas.
“People said I came here to retire. I didn’t. I came here to coach,” Barnes said after Saturday’s game. “I knew what we could do here. The people here, the fans, this school, everything, it’s amazing. I’m so blessed and so thankful God brought me here.”
Barnes sports an 854-430 record in 39 seasons as a college head coach at George Mason, Providence, Clemson, Texas and Tennessee. He won 402 games at Texas and took the Longhorns to the 2003 Final Four.
The active Division I leader who is ninth all-time in coaching wins, Barnes also won 108 games in six seasons at Providence, 74 games in four seasons at Clemson and posted a 20-10 record in his lone season at George Mason – his first as a head coach in 1987-88.
Nate Ament led all scorers with 22 points, which included a 10-of-11 effort from the free-throw line, for Tennessee against LSU (14-11 overall, 2-10 SEC. Ament also pulled down nine rebounds. JP Estrella scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Vols (18-7, 8-4), and Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 12 points.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
