Tennessee Vols head basketball coach Rick Barnes confirmed this week that he looked into bringing a familiar face back to Rocky Top this offseason.

Last month, Barnes hired Earl Grant to replace Justin Gainey as one of Tennessee’s assistant coaches (Gainey took over as NC State’s head coach in April).

Grant, who was fired as Boston College’s head coach in March, was hired at Tennessee after Barnes contacted him to ask about some of his players.

“I just called him to talk to him about some of his players,” said Barnes of Grant. “God put it on my heart that this is a guy you need to be talking to about a job. I didn’t say anything that first call, but I called back and started talking about it. There was no doubt in my mind. He was the only person I talked to. I didn’t talk to anybody else.”

Rick Barnes called former Vols assistant coach Kim English about the job before hiring Earl Grant

Barnes confirmed during an appearance on The RTI Low-Down that he initially contacted former Vols assistant coach Kim English about replacing Gainey.

English served as an assistant at Tennessee from 2019 to 2021 before landing the head coaching job at George Mason. He spent the last three seasons as the head coach at Providence before getting fired this spring.

Barnes said that English, who was also rumored for an assistant coaching job at North Carolina, wasn’t ready to jump back into coaching just yet.

“I thought of a couple guys that I had in mind,” said Barnes. “Really happy for Justin Gainey, he obviously got the NC State job. That’s a dream come true for him to get to go back to his alma mater, and he’s from North Carolina.

“But I always keep a couple of people in mind. And I had actually talked to Kim about it a little bit, Kim English. But at the time, he wasn’t really ready to get back into it.”

Ultimately, Barnes landed on the coach that he believes is the right fit for what Tennessee needs right now.