Rodney Terry addresses hot seat speculation, how wins in SEC Tournament impact status

Rodney Terry may have been in danger of losing his job had the SEC Tournament not gone well. Texas came to Nashville with a 6-12 conference record and was thought to be on the outside looking in when it came to the NCAA Tournament. Losing early may have ended postseason hopes and Terry’s tenure in Austin.

Instead, the Longhorns have won two straight and are set to face Tennessee in the quarterfinals. The hot seat for Terry has potentially cooled down but either way, he is not paying attention.

“I don’t ever worry about that,” Terry said after Thursday’s Texas A&M win. “At the end of the day, God puts the right people in your life and puts you where you’re supposed to be.”

Terry is in his second full season as the head coach at Texas. He originally took over with the interim tag in 2022-2023 after Chris Beard was fired. Success immediately followed as Texas won the Big 12 Tournament and made a run to the Elite Eight — the program’s best postseason finish since 2008.

Results have not been as pretty since Chris Del Conte made his title full-time, though. Texas was a seven-seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament, losing in the second round. Transitioning to the SEC was not easy either as the Longhorns are right on the bubble.

If there is a time to worry about the job status, it’s when the season is over. At least one more game in the SEC Tournament is required before a hopeful postseason bid. Terry is just focused on finding ways to win games.

Rodney Terry sends message to selection committee after Texas A&M win

Beating Texas A&M has put Texas into the ‘Last Four In’ category by bracketologists out there, including On3’s James Fletcher. Nothing is guaranteed so Terry decided to send a message to the selection committee on Thursday.

“I feel like we play in the best league in the country,” Terry said. “Every night, you have to play an NCAA Tournament game. I think when you play in a league where every single night is an NCAA-caliber team you’re playing against — our guys have handled adversity.

“We haven’t been healthy all year long. We are now healthy, we have all our guys and we have star power. We don’t shy away, we have star power. We have guys that can step up and answer the bell and we’re an entertaining team to watch play.”