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Indiana Basketball announces hire of former Tennessee assistant Rod Clark

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•05/29/25•

GrantRamey

Rod Clark, Indiana Basketball | Indiana Athletics
Rod Clark, Indiana Basketball | Indiana Athletics

Indiana on Thursday announced the hiring of former Tennessee Basketball assistant coach Rod Clark. First-year IU coach Darian DeVries hired Clark away from the Vols on April 30.

Clark had been on staff at Tennessee the last four years, playing a pivotal role for the Vols in recruiting and player development. The Vols hired Amorrow Morgan on May 2 to replace Clark.

Michigan attempted to hire Clark away from Tennessee a year ago, but he opted to stay with the Vols.

“Rod is a great young coach that we are excited to have in Bloomington,” DeVries said in a press release announcing Clark’s hire. “The programs he has worked with have always been among the nation’s best on the defensive side of the ball. He is a proven recruiter that has produced high-level college basketball players, including multiple conference players of the year and All-Americans.”

Rod Clark was hired by Rick Barnes in April 2021

Clark was hired by Rick Barnes in 2021 alongside current Tennessee associate head coach Justin Gainey. Clark and Gainey were hired after Kim English left to become head coach at George Mason and Desmond Oliver left to become head coach at East Tennessee State.

“We had an opportunity to be very selective in making this hire,” Barnes said at the time, “and I couldn’t be more excited about adding Rod to our staff.”

Clark leaving for Indiana is the first change on the Tennessee coaching staff since Schwartz left to become head coach at East Carolina. Schwartz was replaced by Gregg Polinsky, who was promoted from a volunteer analyst position.

Five former Rick Barnes assistants at Tennessee have been hired as head coaches

Gainey was promoted to associate head coach in 2022, after Schwartz left to become the new head coach at East Carolina. The Vols are 119-35 over the last four seasons, with Gainey and Clark on staff, going to a Sweet Sixteen and back-to-back Elite Eights.

Multiple former Tennessee assistant coaches from the Barnes era to leave and become head coaches include Chris Ogden at Texas Arlington and Rob Lanier at Georgia State. 

Ogden is the only coach that left for another job as an assistant coach, joining Chris Beard’s staff at Texas Tech in 2016, after one season at Tennessee. He was later hired by UT Arlington in 2018, then returned to the University of Texas, where he played for Barnes from 1999 to 2003, to become an assistant coach and general manager for the Longhorns. 

Lanier spent two seasons at Georgia State before being hired at SMU. He just finished his first season as the head coach at Rice.   

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