As Longhorns Swoon, Coach Faces More Questions

Rick Barnes is a dream candidate for NC State fans to be Sidney Lowe’s replacement. As coaches stay longer and longer in one place, expectations rise and criticism grows if results don’t continue to trend upward. It happened to Tom O’Brien at Boston College and it happened to Herb Sendek at NC State. Will it happen to Rick Barnes at the University of Texas as well?

Link to article.

There is no way anyone can call Barnes a bad coach. He has won more than 500 games and will lead a team to the N.C.A.A. tournament this year for the 16th consecutive season, a stretch that dates to his days at Clemson. That ties Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski for the longest active streak. Texas is one of six colleges to advance to the Round of 16 in five of the past nine years. Included in that run is a trip to the 2003 Final Four, the first time since 1947 that Texas advanced that far.

But the ghosts of N.C.A.A. tournaments past still haunt Barnes. He is 0 for 5 coaching in first-round N.C.A.A. tournament games between No. 8 and No. 9 seeds. In his 12 N.C.A.A. tournament appearances at Texas, eight of his losses were against teams with lower seeds.

Some of those were forgivable, like when the No. 1 Longhorns lost to the eventual national champion Syracuse, a No. 3 seed, at the 2003 Final Four. But some losses still make Longhorns fans grimace, like the first-round losses to Temple, a No. 11 seed, in 2001 and to No. 10 Purdue in 1999.

“I don’t care,” Barnes said late Tuesday of the criticism. “I’ve been in this so long, I could care less about what other people think. I quit a long time ago worrying about that.”

Barnes is worried about his team, which showed that it had Final Four potential in victories over Kansas, North Carolina and Texas A&M. But Texas has also shown enough flaws lately to be the prototypical office pool head-scratcher.

Will their N.B.A. talents and once boundless promise translate to March success? Much will depend on whether Barnes has any magic stored up his sleeve.

General

106 Responses to As Longhorns Swoon, Coach Faces More Questions

  1. choppack1 03/01/2011 at 7:25 PM #

    rick Barnes is a “curve-breaker” – he broke the curve at Clemson and he’s done it at Tejas.

    He hasn’t had fantastic success in the NCAAs – but you have to wonder if his day will come. All he does though is have successful season after successful season.

    He or Sean Miller are my pipe dream candidates.

  2. eas 03/01/2011 at 7:29 PM #

    ^ Agree 100%. They are not miracle workers but an amazing catch for us. Therefore they are all pipe dreams (Barnes, Smith, Miller).

  3. nseast8 03/01/2011 at 7:32 PM #

    Wufpacker, I know this is of the grapevine variety but my coworker’s wife was roommates with one of the V daughters at State and is still a close friend. When the last search took place, Calipari called Pam Valvano (V’s wife) and told her that he was looking forward to joining the Wolfpack.

  4. Wufpacker 03/01/2011 at 8:00 PM #

    ^ Very, very interesting. Until now I’ve never heard anything before which led me to believe that he courted us for any reason but to up the ante for Memphis. If nothing else, this is a point in the column for NCSU being able to attract a top flight hire.

    I do still think there’s a good chance that he would have ultimately jumped ship and left us holding the bag of NCAA sanctions, but perhaps he isn’t (quite) the “gun for hire” I thought he was.

    And regarding this, 44: “Except winning at perennial powerhouses Mass and Memphis yeah he couldn’t win at this dump.”

    NCSU is not Memphis or UMass. Until he went to Kentucky, Calipari has only succeeded as a big fish in a little pond. Admittedly, he certainly elevated the profile of Memphis and UMass while he was there, but coming into a situation like NC State would have been very different. A difficult job without the ability to pretty much pick and choose his recruits (like at KY, or taking academic exceptions), and in a very competitive conference (at least it used to be).

    I admit that it’s only my opinion, but I think we would have seen results from him here closer to that of the Nets, not UMass, Memphis or even UK.

  5. jo2g5 03/01/2011 at 8:23 PM #

    Clemson was regular season champs in 1990 with Cliff Ellis as head coach. Something Rick did not accomplish while at Clemson. So saying Clemson never won anything in BBall is not quite correct.

  6. albunde6 03/01/2011 at 9:01 PM #

    All this speculation is making my head hurt. Don’t want anyone who can not do it the right way. “Calimari” would have landed us in the NCAA frying pan.

    All I want is someone with the charisma and “speachafying” of Valvano, the defense of coach K and the intensity of Bobby Knight. I’m sure that we will be able to find that for the low low price of 2 million per year.

  7. goforit 03/01/2011 at 9:30 PM #

    “I enjoy all the speculation and coaching search conversation. I wonder who the real candidates are? Yow had her list of prospective coaches prepared before she even arrived on State’s campus, by the way.”

    Same list she had a Maryland?

  8. CaptainCraptacular 03/01/2011 at 9:41 PM #

    The ACC declares the winner of the conference basketball tournament as THE champion, officially. Last I checked Clemson has never been the ACC basketball champion, for any year.

    You can see this referred to in page 7 of the ACC’s official men’s basketball pdf. In the tournament bracket, you can see the tournament winner is listed as the ACC champion:
    http://www.theacc.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/acc/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/weekly-release

    I don’t know what this regular season “champion” is.

  9. rtpack24 03/01/2011 at 10:16 PM #

    Rick Barnes will take Tex to the NCAA’s for his 16th year in a row(last 3yrs at Clemson and last 12 at TX. He has lost as many players leaving early as any coach in the country. Texas had not been to the final four since 1947 and Barnes took them in 2003. Roy did not win a National Champ in Kansas the 15yrs he was there. I can think of not one coach in the country that would be a better fit at NCSU than Richad Dale Barnes. Timing is everything.

  10. 987654321 03/01/2011 at 10:24 PM #

    2 mil? What’s the guarantee? Don’t forget the added $ for salary and guarantee for TOB which will be the fallout of this. It’s not the $ the coach earns its the $ the school has to pay to get rid of him that matters. Ask GT.

  11. Tau837 03/01/2011 at 10:30 PM #

    I find it hard to believe so many fans are posting that they don’t want Rick Barnes. He is the #1 candidate on my list.

    People saying what he accomplished at Clemson and Texas is unimpressive are as far off base as it gets. Also, I have to wonder who they think we are going to get who will put up more impressive results at State than Barnes could.

  12. ryebread 03/01/2011 at 10:53 PM #

    I’d love to have Barnes. I put our chance of landing him at 1%. Sure there’s a chance, but it’s just not remotely realistic. Posting stuff like this only falsely gets peoples’ hopes up. I’m afraid that will lead to disappointment regardless of what happens.

    Here’s to hoping I’m wrong.

  13. mak4dpak 03/01/2011 at 11:09 PM #

    Again Randy Bennett of Saint Marys, Dave Rose of BYU, and there are others who have great track records. But I again repeat Bennett has been at Saint Marys for 10 years, with 9 20+ win seasons with lesser talent, and if you watch his teams of lesser talent you see them play the fundamentals of offense and defense, something we don’t practice.

  14. choppack1 03/01/2011 at 11:09 PM #

    In terms of consistency, Barnes is amazing. If there’s one problem Barnes has it’s that he usually has too much young talent. It’s hard to get a group of freshmen to win a national championship- they simply aren’t as physically or mentally tough as guys who have been in college a few years. However, his teams always play D – and they are mentally tough.

    If he’s not 1, he’s 1a – and the only reason he’s not 1 is because of his age. I wasn’t sure about Miller until this year, but now I’m sold. He’s my other 1a. Those are the 1st two calls I’d make.

  15. mak4dpak 03/01/2011 at 11:18 PM #

    Forgot to mention Saint Marys won the WCC championship this year, which includes the well known Gonzaga team.

  16. NCSU84 03/01/2011 at 11:19 PM #

    I would love to have either Barnes or Smith. But lets get real. A big time coach would take a huge risk coming to Roy and Mike’s backyard. The last coaching search proved this point. Granted, Lee Fowler probably did not sell NCSU very well. But I think he (as will Debbie) encountered problems with the dynamics of coaching in this area with two legends already entrenched.

  17. packalum44 03/02/2011 at 12:11 AM #

    ^ and that is a bad thing why… Never understood why it is a negative to be coaching in the most storied plot of land in college. Call me crazy but I would want to be the coach who made the triangle a 3 headed monster in college ball again.

    Moreover last time I checked nick saban and Bobby petrino didnt shy away from entering a conference that boasted 3 national championship coaches in the league.

  18. gcpack 03/02/2011 at 12:36 AM #

    I think Barnes’ opportunity has come and gone.
    When he says there are more important things in life than winning basketball games me thinks he has lost a little bit of the so called
    EDGE.

    Remember the Barnes from Clemson taking no crap from Dean Smith.
    Not sucking up to the powers at be(unc influenced officials and media)?

    No thanks. I want a guy who hasnt mellowed. Who finally embraces wanting to beat the crap out of everybody we play.

    I guess that means no Tubby either. I prefer someone a little younger who is full of piss and vinegar rather than the last stop from a well known head coach who is looking at the pasture before we get 10 years out of him.

  19. gcpack 03/02/2011 at 12:47 AM #

    oh by the way.

    Any coach who thinks its too tough for him to coach in Raleigh and that somehow that is harder than coaching say in Pauley Pavilion in LA or say Kentucky or say Syracuse can keep his butt away from Wake County. Someone who is that stupid doesnt deserve to coach major college basketball anyway. Nobody said the job description of being a major college basketball coach was that they shouldn’t have to worry about the competition.

    I agree with you packalum44.

  20. ryebread 03/02/2011 at 12:50 AM #

    gcpack: That’s why my #1 target would be Miller. I don’t think we’ll get him, but his age, coaching, recruiting and intangibles all would add up to the perfect hire. Alas, I’m sure he stays at Zona.

    My #2 is Tubby because he’d have a TOB effect and have us back to Sweet 16s/Elite 8s. He’d leave the program in much better shape than he found it. I think we’ve got a 50/50 shot of landing him.

    My #3 pick is Bennett of St. Mary’s. I’ve been watching him for some time and have been very impressed with what he’s done at St. Mary’s. I think we’ve got a 75% chance of landing him (the 25% being that he may just be a west coast guy).

  21. rb 03/02/2011 at 1:17 AM #

    what about donovan? is he out of the picture now?

  22. mak4dpak 03/02/2011 at 7:25 AM #

    ryebread, glad to see you have taken the time to watch Saint Marys, and Bennett’s creditials there. His resume speaks for itself. I think he is only in his late 40s, so we could have many years with him. Anybody else wondering, just pull up his resume at Saint Marys. Again, has one of the top offenses in the nation, wow, wouldn’t that be a change!

  23. NCSU84 03/02/2011 at 8:33 AM #

    packalum44 states: “Call me crazy but I would want to be the coach who made the triangle a 3 headed monster in college ball again.”

    Yes, but in this area, starting out Tubby or Rick would always be looked upon as second rate. They would have to prove themselves all over again to prove they can compete with Roy and Mike on a consistent basis. This is a big risk for any coach let alone an established one. Because if you are not successful, your bargaining position and your status as an A-game coach will no longer exist.

  24. NCSU84 03/02/2011 at 8:38 AM #

    “Moreover last time I checked nick saban and Bobby petrino didnt shy away from entering a conference that boasted 3 national championship coaches in the league.”

    Yes, but neither do they compete for the same talent in the same backyard – literally.

  25. albunde6 03/02/2011 at 9:38 AM #

    Do we have examples of successful coaching changes from west to east. Would we not be smart to find someone with existing connections in NC, south or northeast? I do not have specific candidate, but would lean to Barnes or Smith based on past experience in area.

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