Rick Barnes Is Staying

Goodness the whining about a grown man jockeying for more money while considering a new job, then deciding to stay home due to it all not working out, is unreal.

 

It's funny seeing all the parallels with marriage/relationships going on, because I actually had a pretty similar situation in the realm of relationships back in 2014. Dated a local girl for a little while, had a lot of fun, thought there was a lot of potential for a long-term relationship, but she didn't really see a future, so we broke it off. Couple months later, I was pretty deep in an online relationship with a Korean girl from Southern California who seemed to be pretty much everything I was looking for. At the stage where we were talking for hours every day, had booked a trip out to see her, and suddenly the local girl comes back and says she wants to give it another try.

I was genuinely torn, because I really liked both but thought I had hit the point where it would be disrespectful to really pursue both relationships at the same time. So I spent a weekend basically at home praying constantly for guidance. At the end of my prayer weekend, SoCal girl calls me and says she's been having some fights with her parents and she doesn't think it's a good time to bring a white guy home.

I interpreted that as a clear answer to the prayer for guidance, canceled the trip (got a voucher for the full value, thank you, Southwest), called up local girl, set up a date for that Friday, and now we've been married for almost four years and have two adorable and maddening children.

Obviously, there are some important dissimilarities with Barnes' situation, but there are enough similarities that I feel like I get that kind of situation and think the way he described his actions/mentality make total sense.

 

Were I given 10,000 years, and the assistance of Churchill himself, I could not have drafted a more unassailable defense of my position on this issue, than this post provides.

I honestly don’t know what more needs be said, than this.

 

Poor planning. Should have flown out to California and banged that Korean chick first.

 

No, it isn’t, at all.

If he were compensated strictly on those criterion, he’d be no better than the 16th highest paid coach.

 

Did you hold a press conference to elicit this information while also claiming to love the one you wanted to leave but settled for?

I hope not.

 

Its an interesting discussion.

What are the expectations going forward, coming off the last 2 seasons without UCLA coming after Barnes and UT paying him what they previously were?

 

I'm not defending anything. A couple of you are acting like emotional teenage girls about the entire deal. Thats my opinion. I wouldnt expect you to agree.

 

God saved him from being catfished

 

And to be fair, it’s true that every coach works for money, always wants to make more, and absolutely should take as much as the market will bear and the school is willing to pay them.

No harm in that.

What Barnes has now been honest in publicly admitting is that his loyalty, allegiance and affinity to Tennessee is ultimately and singularly contained by cold, hard cash, alone.

Tennessee is not where he’d most like to be, preferring UCLA instead, but he’s stuck here, sadly, only because UCLA - again, his first preference - couldn’t afford his buyout.

I sincerely hope that someone questions him as to whether or not he asked Tennessee to waive / reduce his buyout, and what decision he would have made, had they agreed to do so.

Or someone asks him if he ensured that UCLA had requested and received Tennessee’s permission before speaking to him about their job. That’s the funny thing about being your own agent, as Barnes is....you don’t have insulating intermediaries. They called him, directly.

And if not, when he first made Tennessee aware of that desire and those discussions.

Hell, can a guy hope that someone asks him if he extended the same courtesy (contractual obligation?) to Texas, when he was speaking to and had both received and accepted an offer from Tennessee and before Texas had even fired him?

Or that someone asks him what school he’ll represent if he’s accepted into the Hall of Fame, someday (his penchant for being a dud in the NCAA tourney will be easily offset by the magnitude of his honesty and likability, I’m sure).

Or if he still maintains a house in Austin, and makes no bones about returning to it the millisecond he isn’t Tennessee’s coach, anymore.

Or whether or not he agreed with Des Oliver’s assessment that he’s “earned the right” to not go on the road in recruiting.

Or whether he thinks that he’s recruiting as hard and frequently as he should, and on par with other and similarly paid peers in the coaching community.

Or how about whether he feels that his resume deserves to be the third highest paid coach in college basketball.

I’d delight in his honesty in answering these questions. So, so. SOOOO, honest.

I’m going to stop [itch bay]ing about it - he has a right to feel however he wants, and so do the fans. The good news is that we are now all on the same page - his relationship to Tennessee is exactly like that which exists between a John and any random prostitute, and we can dispense with any and all considerations or illusions, otherwise. But as I’ve said, he needs to be prepared that this level of unflinching honesty works in both directions.

I look forward to our signing a Top 3 class and in our inevitable trip to the Final Four next season, and all thereafter, and for as long as he’s here.

 

1. Top 5 recruiting class each year
2. Annual trip to the Final Four - or at worst - one trip every other year

This is what we’ve agreed to pay for, and damned well better get it.

 

Doesn't seem like Duke or UK are getting that and with a stiffer price tag, too.

 

Fortunately there isn't any press who have shown interest in my love life.

 

[itch bay] please. I don't like an underachieving coach thinking he gets a pass for wanting out because he walks up to a mic and claims to love a place he's only been in for four years. And to compound that, was walking for a loss of money in his pocket into a total rebuild.

Actions and words don't match up, and I don't appreciate a coach trying to play on fan emotions in hopes that this is water under the bridge.

 

When's UK's last Final Four anyways? 2015?

 

They've also had national championships won under the current coach. A nice balance of achievements and expectations.

 

I question your taste in woman, or perhaps this was just a poor choice of an example.

 

They’re each at the job they most prefer and want. So, a small difference.

And will he give some of that money back if he fails to provide an equitable return on that investment? It seems to me that an honest person would not only be willing - but wanting - to do so.

Do you think he’d be honest enough to do that?

 

He obviously needs some PR coaching.