Rick Barnes reacts to winning 800th career game as head coach

No. 5 Tennessee defeated Texas A&M 86-51 on Saturday as Rick Barnes became the 15th coach in men’s college basketball history to amass 800 career wins as a head coach.

After the game, the Vols headman revealed his mindset after achieving the rare feat. As usual, he kept the message about his team and faith rather than about himself.

“It’s really the motto in our program, it’s not about me,” Barnes said. “And God has truly blessed me with players and coaches, administrations. And just certainly a family that has been with me every step of the way. I’ve been [coaching] a long time, obviously, but I’m just thankful, blessed. And I do know this, that every time that I thought I could do it on my own, it didn’t work.

“And I just thank God for looking out for me through the years. Because there have been times that I really messed it up and I appreciate him not quitting on me and keeping me where I needed to be. But I’m really thankful to the players. I know what grind they put in every day, and our coaches and people, our program. And I’ve just been blessed, again, with having a chance to be around some wonderful people.”

The 2023-24 season is Barnes’ 37th as a head coach at the Division I level. That success pits him second among active coaches in career wins alongside Kentucky‘s John Calipari, who also achieved the feat earlier this season. Kansas‘ Bill Self is also closing in on the feat.

Overall, Barnes is the 26th NCAA coach, regardless of level, to reach the 800-win threshold.

Not only does that put Barnes among the best coaches of all time in the NCAA, he also cements himself in SEC history joining Calipari, Cliff Ellis, Adolph Rupp and Eddie Sutton as the only coaches since the conference’s inception to log their 800th win as an SEC head coach.

Part of Barnes’ success in Knoxville over his nine-year tenure has been the fact that they almost always rise to the occasion. After Saturday’s blowout victory, the Volunteers are now 73-22 (.768) while ranked as an AP top 10 team, an improve to 32-9 (.780) as an AP top five team in since Barnes took over the program.

Now, Barnes will be searching for win No. 801 when the Vols headline this coming Wednesday’s slate with a ranked SEC matchup against No. 14 Auburn, which will have major implications in the current conference standings two weeks ahead of the end of the regular season.