Texas basketball should not want a Rick Barnes reunion

At the moment, the head coaching search for the Texas basketball program is being put to the side for the most part in terms of what you see in the daily headlines. That is because Texas is looking to continue on its path to winning a Big 12 title and making a deep postseason run down the stretch this season under interim head coach Rodney Terry.

Terry and the Longhorns are currently in first place in the Big 12 standings as of the morning of Feb. 4. This squad is sporting a record of 18-4 (7-2 Big 12), which constitutes the program’s best start to conference play in more than a decade.

There is plenty of success to be excited about for this men’s basketball program this season. And a lot of the success that Terry and the Longhorns find down the stretch will play a big role in this administration’s decision as to who the next full-time head coach will be to replace the recently-fired Chris Beard.

Terry is obviously someone that will be in the conversation among the possible candidates to be Texas’ next full-time head coaching hire.

Some of the other names that are being mentioned as possible candidates for the Texas job are Kentucky head coach John Calipari, Alabama head coach Nate Oats, Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman, and Brooklyn Nets assistant coach Royal Ivey, among others.

But one name that has come up in various potential candidate lists, and in a recent survey from Burnt Orange Nation is the former Texas head coach Rick Barnes. This Burnt Orange Nation survey asked fans if they would be interested in bringing Barnes back to the Forty Acres.

Texas basketball fans should not want to see a reunion with Rick Barnes

And in a surprising result, 59 percent of Texas fans were interested in considering a reunion with Barnes.

I will say, though, that the actual write-up from Burnt Orange Nation mentioned that this was the “worst poll ever”. So, I don’t think that the staff over at BON was actually in favor of bringing Barnes back to the 40.

And I must say that I fully agree with that sentiment.

Now, before I get further into this, I do want to mention that I do think Barnes is a quality head basketball coach. He’s found a lot of success in Knoxville and he had some good seasons on the 40. I just don’t think he’s the right fit right now for the Longhorns.

Another article from Heartland College Sports mentioned the idea of Texas trying to lure Barnes out of Knoxville. This is a direction that I also don’t agree with in terms of where Texas should be looking to find its next head basketball coach.

There are a few obvious reasons why I am with BON in terms of wanting to avoid bringing Barnes back into the fold. First and foremost, I don’t think it’s wise for Texas to move back in time in terms of the direction of the program.

If people forgot why Barnes was let go in the mid-2010s in the first place, it was that Texas was unable to make it that far in the NCAA Tournament. In his final half-decade with the program, Barnes underachieved in the postseason, only making it out of the Round of 64 once over the span of more than five seasons.

Texas also didn’t get better than a mid-single-digit seed in the NCAA Tournament in the last half-dozen seasons for Barnes as the men’s hoops head coach.

The lack of postseason success ultimately cost Barnes his job. It was also the biggest reason why Shaka Smart didn’t work out at Texas.

I don’t think Texas fans will want to return to the days of lacking postseason success, and ultimately not fulfilling the full potential of this men’s hoops program.

The second reason why I don’t want to see a reunion between Barnes and the Longhorns is the lack of player development that took place late in his tenure on the 40. Let’s not forget about how Texas never got higher than a six-seed in the NCAA Tournament in the last five years of Barnes’ tenure as the head coach, despite having top-20 ranked recruiting classes essentially every single year.

And out of the four five-star recruits that were signed in the last six cycles for Barnes as Texas’ head coach, only one of them ever made it onto an All-Big 12 Team (center Myles Turner). The one year Texas did have an All-Big 12 selection amid its plethora of five-star talents on the team, it was ousted in the Round of 64 in the NCAA Tournament by the six-seed Butler Bulldogs to cap the 2014-15 season.

The final reason why I don’t believe looking into Barnes is something to consider for Texas fans is that the two parties might not even be interested in a reunion. Texas athletic director Chris del Conte was not the one that hired Barnes in the first place.

I have a hard time believing that running it back with Barnes would even be on CDC’s mind at this point in terms of where to take this coaching search this time around.

Moreover, let’s consider the very fact that Barnes might not even be interested in returning to Texas. Barnes has found a lot of success in Knoxville during the last half-dozen years or so as the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers. He’s got a good thing going in Knoxville, so it’s hard to believe he would be all that inclined to look elsewhere at other jobs.

All in all, I firmly believe that there are much more viable candidates for Texas to consider to replace Beard as the next full-time head coach for this basketball program, even if you’re exclusively looking in the SEC. Oats, Ivey, and even the former Villanova Wildcats head coach Jay Wright would all be obvious candidates that I would consider way before trying to get Barnes on the phone if I were hypothetically in CDC’s seat.