Damn, probably bad news for rest of conference.
ESPN: "You could argue nobody does less with more than Rick Barnes".
Now, that might be true, but OUCH! I've exchanged brief words with the guy and thought he was a really good dude. Everything you read about him seems to back that up as well. X's and O's were sketchy, and they weren't as successful as they probably should have been, but the guy went to the NCAA tournament 16 out of 17 years. Pretty rough first thing to say when "breaking the news".
Will Barnes go to Tennessee since that job is open?
Jeff Goodman @GoodmanESPN 8m8 minutes ago Texas top candidates are Gregg Marshall and Shaka Smart -- and both have heavy interest in the opening, sources told ESPN
He could, but I can also see Barnes go to a mid-major school were expectations aren't as high and where he doesn't have Top 100 recruits to work with that lead to those high expectations.
I do think he was a better coach back when he first started than he showed his last few seasons in Austin, but I can see an under the radar kind of program making a big play for him, and possibly being successful in doing so.
Texas could be scary with the right guy
I have a hard time believing that Shaka is interested in Texas. But we'll see.
Smart and Marshall are the obvious names, but I wouldn't be surprised if they got a guy like Mark Few or Jay Wright