GoVols247’s Wes Rucker (from the Fort Rucker Sun Room) and Grant Ramey (from GoVols247’s Blount County Satellite Office) convened via Al Gore’s Internets to break down the fallout from Rick Barnes’ unusually candid comments following his decision to spurn UCLA and remain at Tennessee.
In perhaps an only-at-Tennessee moment, the Barnes-Vols-Bruins saga took three sharp turns in a short period of time. First there was shock and anxiety that stemmed from reports of the mutual interest between UCLA and Barnes. Then there was the elation that stemmed from Barnes’ decision to remain at Tennessee. Then there was the confusion that stemmed from Barnes’ candid remarks that he would have become the coach at UCLA if the Bruins had played ball on his buyout with Tennessee.
What are we to make of this situation? What does it all mean? How much impact will it have on a coach and fan base who to this point have done nothing but fawn over each other?
Did Barnes just prove he’s more like the average coach than anyone thought? Will that matter? Will the results on the court be the determining factor in how much it matters?
Will this controversy go away in time, such is the way things go in this era of minuscule attention spans? Or will it remain a rock stuck in Barnes’ shoe any time the Vols start to struggle?
Barnes’ comments left plenty to chew on, and this episode provides a forum to continue that discussion. It also discusses new Tennessee assistant coach Kim English, a bright up-and-comer whose hire would have been discussed much more in the past couple of weeks if these were ordinary circumstances.
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