Basketball Coaches

Rick Barnes leads No. 1 Tennessee, wants players to 'understand who Jesus Christ is'

By Joshua Doering Dec 18, 2024
Tennessee men's basketball head coach Rick Barnes talks with a referee, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Craig Pessman)

Nearly six years since Rick Barnes and the Tennessee Volunteers last climbed to the top of the Associated Press men’s basketball poll, they are back in the No. 1 spot. Tennessee (11-0) jumped from third to first in the Dec. 9 poll and held onto the top spot in the most recent poll released Monday after beating Miami (FL) at Madison Square Garden (75-62) and Illinois on the road (66-64) thanks to a buzzer-beater from Jordan Gainey.

The Volunteers then cruised past Western Carolina, 84-36, Tuesday night to maintain their perfect record. Chaz Lanier led the way with 19 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.

>> Subscribe to Sports Spectrum Magazine for more stories where sports and faith connect <<

In his media availability prior to Tuesday’s game, Barnes complimented his team — which features a starting lineup consisting of four seniors and a junior — on its maturity and camaraderie.

“The leadership’s great,” he said. “We wouldn’t be where we were if this group didn’t care about each other, like each other and … continue to push each other.”

In Barnes’ nine full seasons in Knoxville, the Volunteers have won two SEC regular-season titles (2017-18 and 2023-24), an SEC Tournament title (2022) and reached the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 three times. They have been ranked in the top five of the AP poll in four consecutive seasons. Tennessee is the fourth program Barnes has coached to the NCAA Tournament and the third he has led to a conference title.

Barnes’ approach to coaching is guided by his faith in God, but it wasn’t always that way. He shared on the Sports Spectrum Podcast in 2019 that he started chasing after worldly things earlier in his coaching career and often neglected God. It was a difficult conversation initiated by his children that helped drive Barnes back to the Lord.

“I’m just thankful that God, you know, He won’t let go of you,” he said on Sports Spectrum’s “Table Forty” podcast in 2021. “I don’t think there’s any question He had me when I was young, but I let the world take me down a road and roads that I shouldn’t have gone. But I believe that once He gets a hold of you, He won’t let you go. I think He has great plans to help me become more and more like Him every day.”

When Tennessee won the SEC Tournament in 2022 for the first time in 43 years, Barnes gave thanks to God while celebrating on the podium. Despite all of the awards and accolades the 70-year-old has collected in his 37-plus years as a college head coach, Barnes is most concerned with modeling Christ for his players.

“Honestly, I just think the biggest thing is that we should want to share our faith,” he said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast. “We should want our players to understand who Jesus Christ is. They should see us living that every single day.”

Last season, Tennessee went 27-9, tying for the fourth-most victories in program history while reaching the Elite Eight and winning a conference title in the same season for the first time. The next step is making the Final Four, something the program has never done. Barnes has reached the Final Four once, when he was leading Texas in 2003.

Before the Volunteers can do that, though, they have an opportunity to become the first team to win consecutive SEC regular-season titles since Kentucky in 2015-16 and 2016-17. As Barnes leads them on that quest, he is going to keep allowing God to shape him.

“What I learned is that when He gets a hold of you, He’s never gonna let you go,” he said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast. “He’s gonna keep crafting you. We know that He’s the potter and we’re the clay, and I’m just praying that He will continue to mold me into the person He wants me to be.”

Tennessee returns to the court Monday night when it hosts Middle Tennessee State. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. ET.

>> Do you know Christ personally? Learn how you can commit your life to Him. <<

RELATED STORIES:
— Rick Barnes thanks God as Tennessee men collect first SEC title in 43 years
— Rick Barnes sends prayer to Dick Vitale: ‘God is using him in a great way’
— NEW ‘TABLE FORTY’ PODCAST: Tennessee Basketball Coach Rick Barnes
— NEW PODCAST: Rick Barnes, Tennessee Men’s Basketball Coach
— Tennessee’s Rick Barnes named National Coach of the Year by USBWA
— Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes lives his life for the Lord

Tags: