Rick Barnes isn't on any UNC wish list. He doesn't need to be with NIL
Rick Barnes and Tennessee are making their fourth-consecutive Sweet 16 appearance in the Men's NCAA Tournament this year.
CHICAGO — Rick Barnes didn’t give the canned answer like Alabama’s Nate Oats and Iowa State’s T. J. Otzelberger had to because nobody really figured it was worth asking anymore.
“I’m from North Carolina,” the 71-year-old Tennessee men’s basketball coach quipped when told he was likely to be the only head coach at the 2026 NCAA Tournament’s Midwest regional to not have to address the job opening currently driving the college basketball coaching carousel conversation . But the Hickory, North Carolina native is also from another era, joining Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Houston’s Kelvin Sampson from the old guard of coaches to make it to the Sweet 16 this year. His No.
6 seeded Tennessee team faces No. 2 seed Iowa State Friday, March 27 at the United Center in Chicago. With that longevity comes a fascinating perspective about the place he’s been for the past decade, the places he might have left for previously, and the places he probably won’t go now that everything about college sports is different.
“The obvious problem today is there's some fan bases that still think they have an entitlement and they think it's going to be the same way,” Barnes said on Thursday in reference to North Carolina basketballl. “The game has changed totally because of NIL. ” INJURY UPDATE: Will Iowa State forward Joshua Jefferson play vs Tennessee?
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