Tennessee Basketball Head Coach Search: Latest News, Buzz on Position

The Tennessee basketball program fired head coach Donnie Tyndall on March 27 in the midst of an NCAA investigation, and now the school has reportedly agreed to hire former Texas coach Rick Barnes. 

Continue for updates.

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Tennessee Reportedly Signs Rick Barnes

Tuesday, March 31

Evan Daniels of Scout.com reported that Barnes has agreed to become Tennessee's head coach. ESPN's Jeff Goodman confirmed that report. 

Jerry Meyer of 247Sports reported Monday that former Texas head coach Rick Barnes is expected to join Tennessee. Meyer's source said, "It's gonna happen sooner than later. I wouldn't be surprised if there is an agreement in principle by the end of [Monday]."

Barnes was fired from Texas on Saturday after a disappointing season in which the Longhorns barely made the NCAA tournament and lost in their opening tourney game.

Gary Parrish of CBS Sports added from a source that Barnes "is the priority at Tennessee. Just a matter of finalizing a deal."   

On March 27, Matt Slovin of The Tennessean wrote, “Tennessee officials had a preliminary conversation with Butler coach Chris Holtmann on Friday regarding the Vols' vacant head-coaching position, sources familiar with the discussions said.”

Slovin also pointed out there is mutual interest between the two parties, per the anonymous sources, though the discussions are in the early stages.

Butler finished the season with a 23-11 record and advanced to the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament before ultimately falling in an overtime heartbreaker to Notre Dame. Holtmann became the permanent head coach in January after an interim stint while Brandon Miller was on medical leave.

Holtmann coached at Gardner-Webb for three years before joining the Butler staff as an assistant in 2013.