SEC Basketball: Ranking all 14 head coaches heading into 2023-24 season
By Caleb Hall
No. 2 Rick Barnes, Tennesse Volunteers
Rick Barnes is one of the 2 most well-known coaches in the SEC just based on his winning experience in the sport alone. Rick Barnes has had head coaching jobs at Providence, Clemson, Texas, and Tennesse. Barnes has been coaching since the late 80s and still is able to put together good teams that can play solid basketball. Barnes took over Tennesse in 2015 and has taken them to 5 straight NCAA tourneys (excluding 2019-20 covid year). In those 5 years Barnes has taken the Vols to 2 sweet sixteens and 3 first weekend appearances.
The only flaw I would say that is holding Barnes back is his Tennesse’s teams play in March. It seems to be a constant factor in a decent amount of these SEC coaches. Barnes hasn’t taken them past a sweet sixteen in 8 seasons, but when you have a legendary coach like Barnes it’s hard to think it won’t happen soon. Even if the Vols don’t make one soon, just having a coach like Barnes on the sideline will always be a great positive for your team.
The only thing holding Barnes back from sliding or going up is just based on his experience and just sheer amount of total wins he has had over his career. While Musselman and Oats could surpass him in the near future, for now he stands at #2.
One coach seems to always be atop of the SEC however.