It'll be all about the economics. He's known as a guy who does not care about the boosters, only the bottom line. He needs to secure funds for a new basketball arena and Barnes has a huge buyout.
He's an ex CEO with no interest in anything besides the bottom line. The boosters will really need to chirp and I am not sure they will. Football is king.
I talked briefly to a table of Longhorn fans at Burgatory last night.....
at the Waterfront. They were surprisingly upbeat about Barnes, although they all said if they lose it probably will be time to change. Too many really good players have gone through that program without a lot of success and Barnes has had a long tenure. I asked if they thought he would be let go. They said probably not next year because of his buyout. Really nice people btw.
Rick Barnes = Mack Brown without a Vince Young to get him over the top. NBA players galore on the roster over the years, but still never seem to go anywhere.
There are a lot who do less with more. That said, he's definitely a guy who is more recruiter than coach. But he's not Lavin or Kevin Willard or Leonard Hamilton.
Re: Rick Barnes had a Vince Young, his name was Kevin Durant...
Barnes returned 100 percent of last season's scoring and added a top-5 recruit-soon-to-be lottery pick and regressed. Austin sports radio on my drive home was nasty toward Barnes, which is no surprise. It is time for a change.