Tennessee coach Rick Barnes notches 800th career win after beating Texas A&M

Rick Barnes added another milestone to his coaching career Saturday night at Thompson-Boling Arena: 800 wins. No. 5 Tennessee beat Texas A&M 86-51 to give Barnes his 800th career win and his 196th as head coach of the Vols.

Barnes is now the second-winningest active head coach, trailing only Kentucky’s John Calipari (808). He’s 15th on the all-time Division I head coach wins list, which now has 15 coaches with 800 or more career wins. 

Barnes is third on Tennessee’s all-time wins list, behind Ray Mears (278) and Don DeVoe (204). Emmett Lowery won 169 games over 12 seasons (1947-59), Zora Clevenger won 151 games in five seasons (1911-16) and Bruce Pearl won 145 games in six seasons.

Tennessee (21-6, 11-3 SEC) in the 72-67 win at Missouri on Tuesday gave Barnes his 24th 20-win season and his fifth in nine seasons with the Vols. 

Barnes is now 196-98 (66.6%) during his career at Tennessee, including a 97-60 record in SEC play. He led the Vols to an SEC regular-season championship in 2017-18, tied a program-record for single-season wins with 31 in 2018-19 and won the SEC Tournament championship in 2022, the program’s first conference tournament title since 1979.

“Rick’s success speaks for itself,” University of Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman told Volquest, “but his contributions to our university and our community are an important part of who he is as a leader. He has been a friend and trusted adviser to me since I arrived five years ago. He is respected among his peers and he’s beloved in our community.”

Barnes spent 17 seasons at Texas, winning 402 games with the Longhorsn, taking the program to one Final Four, two Elite Eights and two Sweet Sixteens. He has two Sweets Sixteens at Tennessee, last year and in 2019. 

He won 74 games in four seasons at Clemson (1994-98) and 108 games in six seasons at Providence (1988-94). He took Clemson to three NCAA Tournaments, including one Sweet Sixteen. He took the Friars to three NCAA Tournament and won the 1994 Big East Tournament. He won 20 games in his debut season as a head coach, leading George Mason to a 20-10 record in 1987-88. 

Barnes in December became a first-time nominee for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, was inducted into the North Carolina Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023 and was inducted into the hall of fame at Lenoir-Rhyne, his alma mater, in 2022.

He was the Naismith Coach of the Year after leading Tennessee to a 31-6 record in 2018-19, with the Vols spending four weeks ranked No. 1 while winning a program-record 19 straight games. He was the SEC Coach of the Year in 2018 and finished second in the Naismith Coach of the Year voting. 

The 2018-19 team’s 31 wins also set a new program record for wins over back-to-back seasons with 57, after the 2017-18 team went 26-9.The Vols won 52 games over the previous two seasons, going 27-8 in 2021-22 and 25-11 last season, and are currently at 73 wins and counting over the last three seasons. 

Barnes was hired at Tennessee on March 31, 2015, just days after parting ways with Texas after his 17 years leading the Longhorns. He was the third coach at Tennessee in as many season and won 15 games with the Vols in his first season, in 2015-16, then 16 in 2016-17, before his third Tennessee team finished 26-9 and won the SEC regular season title. 

The Vols have been a No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the NCAA Tournament under Barnes. His success on the court has matched the program culture he’s built off the court. 

“Coach Barnes is one of the most compassionate, thoughtful, genuine leaders I’ve ever encountered,” Plowman said. “He listens to people and he cares about them as individuals first and foremost. 

“His ability to see the best in people and to get them to be the best version of themselves is what sets him apart. It’s what makes him — and his teams — successful on the court and off.”