Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes is ready for his 31st appearance in the NCAA Tournament, including eight with the Vols.
Barnes is leading the No. 6 seed Vols (22-11) against No. 11 Miami of Ohio (32-1) in the first round of March Madness at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia on March 20 (4:25 p.m. ET, TBS).
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The winner will play either No. 3 Virginia (29-5) or No. 14 Wright State (23-11) on March 22.
Here’s everything you need to know about Barnes.
How old is Rick Barnes?
Rick Barnes is 71 years old. He was born on July 17, 1954, in Hickory, North Carolina.
Where did Rick Barnes go to college?
Barnes went to Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina. He played college basketball for the Bears from 1974-77 and was inducted into the Lenoir-Rhyne Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
How long has Rick Barnes been coaching?
Barnes has been a head coach for 39 years.
Has Rick Barnes been to a Final Four?
Barnes has one Final Four appearance in his career. In 2003, he guided Texas to tournament wins over UNC Asheville, Purdue, UConn and Michigan State. The Longhorns lost in the Final Four, 95-84, to the eventual national champion Syracuse, led by Carmelo Anthony.
Rick Barnes NCAA Tournament record
Across 30 NCAA Tournament appearances, Barnes has a record of 33-29. He’s brought the Vols to a program-record eight consecutive March Madness appearances, including two straight Elite Eight trips.
He has not yet won a national championship.
How many NBA players has Rick Barnes coached?
Barnes has coached 46 players who made it to the NBA. He’s produced 35 draft picks, including 19 first-round choices and eight lottery picks. In back-to-back seasons, Barnes had LaMarcus Aldridge and Kevin Durant, who were both drafted No. 2 in the 2006 and 2007 NBA Drafts.
Chaz Lanier and Jahmai Mashack are Barnes’ most recent NBA players. Lanier was the No. 37 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft to the Detroit Pistons. The Houston Rockets took Mashack with the No. 59 pick in the draft, but he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Tennessee’s last first-round pick was Dalton Knecht. The 2023-24 SEC Player of the Year was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers with the No. 17 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
Rick Barnes coaching career history
Barnes got his first head coaching job at George Mason in 1987-88 for one season, then moved to Providence from 1988-94. He coached at Clemson from 1994-98 and brought the Tigers to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments.
In 1998, Barnes became the coach at Texas, where he spent 17 seasons. The Longhorns made 16 March Madness appearances before Barnes was fired in 2015. Tennessee hired the veteran coach, and he has been with the Vols for the past 11 seasons.
Barnes has an overall coaching record of 858-434. He won three Big 12 conference championships with Texas, and one SEC championship at Tennessee is 2018. He was named Coach of the Year four times in the Big 12, won the 2017-18 SEC Coach of the Year, and was the 2018-19 Naismith Coach of the Year.
Wynton Jackson covers high school sports for Knox News. Email: [email protected]
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