Rick Barnes makes powerful statement that has Tennessee Vols fans wondering how much longer he'll coach
Tennessee Vols head coach Rick Barnes made a comment this week that has UT basketball fans wondering how much longer he'll coach. While speaking at the Big Orange Tipoff club, Barnes said that doesn't know if he'd "still be doing it" if not for Vols guard Zakai Zeigler. "Zakai Zeigler has impacted this program in […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Rick Barnes made a comment this week that has UT basketball fans wondering how much longer he'll coach.
While speaking at the Big Orange Tipoff club, Barnes said that doesn't know if he'd "still be doing it" if not for Vols guard Zakai Zeigler.
"Zakai Zeigler has impacted this program in four years in a way that nobody in their wildest imagination — in ways that you can't even imagine," said Barnes (via WVLT's John Sartori). "He's been a fighter his whole life. He's been told he's too small, he can't do this, he can't do that. I don't know what anybody else thinks, I know what he thinks. And to have him every day do what he does is an incredible blessing that God gave me. Because I don't know that I'd still be doing it, I'll be honest with you, I don't. He makes me enjoy practice every day."
First off, Zeigler is everything that's right about sports. He's what it's all about. It's not the NIL money, or the recruiting rankings, or the big coaching salaries, or the sold out arenas. Sports, at its core, is about competing — sometimes against all odds. And continuing to compete with everything you've got when you've been counted out. That's who Zakai Zeigler is. His heart and his determination is second to none.
As for Barnes, there's no doubt that he's nearing the end of his coaching career. He'll turn 71 years old this summer. At some point, he's going to want to kick up his feet (for a few minutes at least), enjoy more time with family, and just escape the grind of the sport in general.
Who knows when that day will come. Maybe it's this year. Maybe it's four or five years from now. Only Barnes will know when it's time. And when it's time, the sport will be losing one the best to ever to ever do it.
Selfishly, I hope that time is still a few years away. Barnes is a coach that I remember watching as a young college basketball obsessed fan when he was duking it out in the ACC with legends like Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, and Gary Williams (among others). Barnes undoubtedly stands beside those names as a legend in the sport.
