Rick Barnes might coach Tennessee basketball for another 10 years. But if he becomes bored with following a bouncing ball, I have a suggestion for his next job.
UT should hire him as its NIL consultant. I shouldn’t have to tell you why.
Just consider how effectively he has managed UT’s player acquisitions while leading the Vols to two consecutive Elite Eight finishes in the NCAA Tournament.
You don’t attract players from the transfer portal solely on your win-loss record. A transfer player needs to know you will further develop his skills while also enabling him to best capitalize on his name, image and likeness.
Barnes has proved he can do that.
Two years ago, he landed Dalton Knecht from the portal. In one spectacular season with the Vols, Knecht became SEC Player of the Year and a first-team All-American. That led to his being drafted in the first round by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Last year, Barnes added Chaz Lanier, Felix Okpara and Igor Milicic via the portal. All three became starters on a 30-win team. Lanier made first-team All-SEC and was honored as the conference’s newcomer of the year.
Only Okpara remains from that transfer class. But Barnes has added two — Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Jaylen Carey — for the 2025-26 season. Gillespie averaged 14.7 points and 4.8 assists while making 40.7% of his 3-pointers last season as a Maryland point guard. Carey, a 6-foot-8 power forward, averaged 8.0 points and 5.7 rebounds for Vanderbilt last season.
But Barnes’ most notable addition this year hasn’t come from the portal. Last week, five-star power forward Nate Ament, the No. 4-ranked player in the 2025 class, committed to the Vols. His star power and player ranking don’t fully account for what a big deal this commitment is. The Vols had to beat out basketball superpowers Duke and Kentucky.
You can’t prevail against such elite competition without a massive NIL offer. And that’s only possible if the most affluent members of your fan base believe in their coach.
Tennessee’s biggest boosters obviously believe in Barnes. Such belief doesn’t come over night. That takes time and effort.
Barnes has succeeded in establishing and maintaining those relationships. And it’s paying off.
He could write a book on the subject if he had the time. But the demands of running a college basketball program don’t allow for extra undertakings.
Bill Belichick had the time during his break from coaching, between managing the New England Patriots dynasty and his college head coaching gig at North Carolina. That led to his book: “The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football.”
Belichick’s book doesn’t focus much on X’s and O’s, even though he long has been regarded as a masterful strategist. It’s more about the significance that relationships play, and in the NIL era of college sports, those relationships aren’t limited to coaches and players.
Coaches also need to build relationships with the people who financially support their program. Barnes has excelled at that.
And that’s a big reason why Tennessee basketball has averaged 27.5 victories for the past four seasons.
