The Tennesee Volunteers handed out several contract extensions on Tuesday in their athletic department. This included legendary basketball Head Coach Rick Barnes. The longtime Tennessee Volunteers’ Head Coach received a two-year extension that will keep him there until the 2025-26 basketball season. Barnes who is currently 66 years old has spent six years with the program and has an overall record of 123-73. Last year Barnes and the Volunteers had a great season but were upset by a red hot 12 seeded Oregon State Beavers team.
#Vols AD Danny White announces head coach contract extensions —
Rick Barnes extended through the 2025-26 season.
Tony Vitello extended through the 2026 season.
Kelly Harper extended through the 2025-26 season.— Emily Proud (@emily_proud) July 13, 2021
Barnes has spent several years building the Tennessee Volunteer’s basketball program into a competitive SEC force. He has brought in many talented recruits throughout the years, but it hasn’t quite translated to overall tea success. His deal will largely stay the same with his typical annual increases over each year. He will get an annual increase of $250,000 for the next two years and then he will get a $100,000 annual raise for the final three seasons. Barnes’ salary will top out at $5.9 million in the final season of his current contract.
Tennesee Volunteer’s athletic director Danny White had the following to say about the set of contract extensions. “I am excited to work with these talented leaders to ensure that our programs continue building toward our bold, ambitious future. We want to support and maintain high graduation rates and championship aspirations—conference and national—across all of our sports. Great days are ahead of us, Vol Nation.”
Keeping Barnes for an additional two years will help provide further program stability and should help the program continue to do well on the recruiting trail as well as the basketball court.
