Rick Barnes strongly denies report that he was the one to initiate contact with UCLA
Recently, Tennessee managed to keep Rick Barnes in Knoxville after UCLA tried to hire him as their new basketball coach.
This week, a report by The Athletic’s Seth Davis mentioned that Barnes was the one to reach out to the Bruins about the job, but Barnes wanted to make it clear that wasn’t the case.
Per Tennessee insider Jimmy Hyams, Barnes called that report “an absolute lie,” insisting that someone representing UCLA was the first to contact him about the opening:
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said a report that he reached out first to UCLA on a Tuesday before the Final Four is an “absolute lie.'' Barnes said he was contacted indirectly by someone representing UCLA April 2, then told AD Phillip Fulmer on Friday when UCLA contacted Barnes.
— Jimmy Hyams (@JimmyHyams) April 23, 2019
Either way, Barnes decided to turn down UCLA and remain in Knoxville, and Tennessee fans are generally happy he’s staying put.
Now, we’ll see if he can continue to keep the Vols relevant on a national scale moving forward.
The media is just horrible when it comes to facts and getting the story correct.
So which media report is horrible and factually incorrect? The one we like or the one we don’t?
The media’s job is to help us discover the truth – sometimes that process is long and imperfect. As a story unfolds, sometimes the news necessarily includes contradicting claims by differing parties, some of which can be false or opinions presented as facts. It can be like a legal trial, but with more variables. If the media does their due diligence in sourcing and checking their material, they aren’t failing in those instances. Real journalists still do a pretty good job, even if they aren’t perfect and have to increasingly compete with sleazy imitations.
I’m not sure why you feel compelled to defend the media, but whatever. My opinion doesn’t matter in this situation. The media used to get a second source before reporting. Now, they all report rumor as fact and pretend it’s news. I know of no reputable source when it comes to the media. Do you?
I defend the media in general because it is the closest thing we have to an objective source of information. It is not perfect, and some of it is trash that tricks fools into believing it is the real thing. I think you missed the point of my post. I know of several reputable sources.
But if you think we’re better off without real journalism, we’re headed for a dystopia faster than I feared.
He defends the media because he’s a member of the media
LSUABC, also know as Twiddle,
You ever read Phil Steele’s magazine on college football?
Again you throw something out, and hope it sticks to the wall.
Maybe there is too much factual information in Steele’s magazine for you to comprehend.
But, when you’re a proven liar doesn’t facts really matter?
Isn’t there a difference in opinion and lying?
See ya later.
Oh, and of course, keep searching!
@AU – I’m defending journalism more than the media, but I’m neither (except in some other people’s heads here). I can just see value in things other than myself or my interests, and I’m not foolish enough to prefer politician- or coach-spin alone over good journalism.
… you can’t be serious!
Oops…wasn’t done.
The media NEVER does their due diligence! Those days are gone…all they want to do now is be the 1st to print the story. True or not. Look at the articles…2 lines of text then they cut and paste several tweets that other people made. Journalists? Hardly.
I’m not sure what the dot guy is thinking. Folks in the news media all have an agenda and report what fits their agenda. The sports media is just lazy. True journalism is dead, and has been since cable news started.
@ Biggie – most journalists still do their jobs. Most of us just give attention (and indirectly ad money) to pseudo-journalist ‘personalities’ that are in the business of attention not news. If those are the articles you are getting your news from, then perhaps you need to look for new sources.
Can you name these unbiased sources?
@LSUMC – Everyone has an agenda. But most journalists’ agendas at least include some journalistic ethics and a desire to inform as items; if you think that politicians, coaches, and other people in the news don’t have agendas or that they care about the news, then I’ll have to disagree in disbelief.
Sports media has generally never been at the same standard (for a variety of reasons), but journalism is not dead.
I’m not sure that the nostalgic perfect journalism that everyone misses ever really existed, and journalism is certainly approaching/in a crisis,
but even with opinions like those here and the ills of cable news it still isn’t dead yet.
Been dead for years. You can stay in denial if you choose. You also couldn’t produce a single source that is unbiased. Nice talk.
@LSUMC – Journalism isn’t dead; you saying so doesn’t make it so. If you think a time existed when journalists (or anyone) didn’t have an agenda, then “You can stay in denial if you choose.” But that’s just naive. The crisis is that people are just now becoming aware and some agendas are becoming more active. I never said there were unbiased sources, and you’d be a fool to think purely unbiased ones exist. But there are enough sources of good journalism to choose from that you are better off feeding from a few of them than starving from ignorance.
You can believe what you want, but my believe is that’s it’s you that is extremely naive when it comes to “journalism”. You said you knew of several reputable sources, but still haven’t named them. How convenient.
Well since neither of us has bothered to study journalism, it would be accurate to say we both have some naivete.
You never asked me for reputable sources; you kept pretending I claimed to know of unbiased sources and you were asking for those. I’d say it’s pretty naive not to recognize that important distinction.
We can both believe what we want, but it isn’t healthy for us to cling to unjustified beliefs.
LSUABC, or Twiddle, SINCE WHEN DOES SOURCES mean anything when it comes to you?
That is the stupidest comment you’ve made on SDS.
It almost equals you lying.
Your credibility for facts is a joke.
When’s your first article going to be posted? You know, the full of facts.
I completely agree it is a long, arduous, and sometimes painful process. However, one of the problems is that bad reporters are constantly portraying a situation as fact instead of “this is what may have happened.” In our hourly news cycle today, people are so quick to report new “facts” so they can be the first one on the wagon. I wish the media would be more careful and considerate instead of immediately all or nothing. But you are right, there are definitely good sources out there.
Good point. I think there is a disconnect between journalism and the public at large. We want to put the onus on journalists, but when more people click on the breaking, sensational stories than the nuanced, developing ones, we send the money in the wrong direction. I don’t have a solution, but awareness and admission of the problem is probably a necessary step. Journalists probably need to do a better job of understanding their audience, but the audience probably also has to put in the effort to understand more about journalism.
The media is the reason you are posting here.
You could write for the media, and truly amaze others with the ‘facts’ you have posted.
tell the readers the real reason Jimbo Fisher didn’t take the LSU job was because he wasn’t offered a ten year contract. Of course you would base that on facts, that after a search of the internet can’t be found.
Or now the AFF could have been saved it the NFL scout team players should come over and play to increase their income. Your ‘fact’ they could only make $129,000 a year as a scout team player. A little research shows there it no salary cap on a scout team player.
Wonder what media outlet would allow you to make racist comments like you did against the Georgia basketball players? Saying ‘they’ are just there for ‘our’ entertainment and not to get a degree.
Yea, why don’t you write for the media.
I can’t think of a writer who, unlike you gets paid for their articles, throws out lies like you do.
BUT, since we all know you are a liar, our at least me and the guy up stairs do, are you glad you mention religion in that Easter post?, keep trying to amaze ups.
Why would I not believe Barnes? he has been up front 100% so far…
Exactly.
Not sure if this was intended as sarcasm or not.
He hasn’t (and couldn’t have been) 100% upfront about everything. And even if he had been, he has every reason to say this and no reason not to, so he definitely has an agenda that he is committed to (more than anyone else involved, even), true or not. His motivations prevent us from automatically assuming that his assertion must be true.
So you think the coach may be lying but don’t question the reporter with no known source? Get real. You are either in the media or just their biggest apologist.
Twiddle, you’re your pretty much the certified liar on here. Tell where he’s messing up when it comes to being as good as you are at it
I’m not a fool, so I think anyone could lie at any time. Even if I believe Barnes to generally be an honest guy, I know that everyone can lie and they are more likely to do so when they have strong reasons to do so. Sources can be unnamed, but they aren’t unknown. I’m simply being rational.
Consider:
If allegation false, then: reporter – either lied or was lied to, their motivation for was to get a career boost, their motivation against was risking their career; Barnes – told truth, motivation was to try to get truth out there.
If allegation true, then: reporter – told truth, motivation for was still a career boost, get truth out, but with no career risk; Banes – lied, motivation was to try to help his program he just committed to for the foreseeable future.
So regardless of the truth of the allegation, we should expect Barnes to deny it. But we should expect the reporter’s actions to differ based on whether they believe the allegation is true or not; the risk/reward should motivate them to only share the allegation if they believe it. So it’s rational to believe that the reporter believes the allegation is true and that Barnes’ response doesn’t tell us much either way.
…”I know that everyone can lie and they are more likely to do so when they have strong reasons to do so”
NOT ME BUDDY… I live by the motto “It’s better to piss someone off with the truth then lie to them”… I will never intentionally lie…(Funny Jokes Don’t Count)
Geez this non-story needs to die and go away. The man considered a job that means a lot to him for several reasons. I would say the last thing coach Barnes is would be a liar. If he says he didn’t then he didn’t. End of story. There are plenty of terrible, sleazy media out there but there are also some good ones. Jimmy hyams says he always gets a second corroborating source before reporting something of significance. I believe him as well.
While his propensity for honesty/lies should factor in to how we view his statements, so too should his motivations. And he has millions of reasons to say what he did and to say nothing except what he said. This doesn’t mean we should assume he’s lying, it just means it isn’t definitively resolved.
I believe Hyams reported what he discovered, but even if he has 20 sources that doesn’t disprove what was reported. His sources are at Tennessee and would have no reason to have relevant knowledge about the allegation. We all want a simple, immediate answer, but that isn’t how these things work. We’d all be better off if we had more patience and less judgement.
As for Tennessee & Barnes, even if the allegation is true it doesn’t really change the facts of their situation, just maybe some feelings. So they should just ignore it and move on; they’ll all be better for it.
I sure hope you don’t work as a journalist dot guy. You misspelled “judgment.”
1. I don’t.
2. None of this is relevant to the discussion.
3. Ever heard of editors?
4. Both “judgment” and “judgement” are technically acceptable English spellings, though “judgement” is a less common, predominantly British version.
I think everyone is completely forgetting or ignoring the nature of this business and the agents involved. Both could be telling the truth. Just as Barnes said a University rep reached out to him first, one of his reps could have been sending out feelers without his direct knowledge as a means of instigating contract negotiations. It happens in all major college sports with every coach nearly every year.
This seems very reasonable to me, but everyone prefers to be unreasonable.
So after many years of making millions he is so desperate to earn an extra mil he cooks this up. Dotty you are really stretching it.
What are you talking about?
Barnes has a Strong Ass Denial.
If only he were this engaged in working the referees during games…
If it came from Jimmy Hyams then you KNOW it’s true. Right?…..
Crank A pessimist like you would argue the sky is green. My point on hyams is I believe he is a good journalist who doesn’t just throw out rumor and heresay. Try to keep up.
Try to keep up? I was commenting on the story. Not your comments (until now).
As for Hyams, he’s a Haslam mouthpiece.
If Barnes actually told a fib here, I feel confident that the league will step in and Pearl him with an 8 game suspension.