Rick Barnes Agrees to Lifetime Contract with Tennessee Volunteers

Head basketball coach Rick Barnes has agreed to a lifetime contract with the Tennessee Volunteers.

Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes at team practice on July 14, 2025, in Knoxville, Tennessee. | Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Head basketball coach Rick Barnes has agreed to a lifetime contract with the Tennessee Volunteers.

On Thursday, it was announced that head men's basketball coach Rick Barnes has agreed to a lifetime contract with the Tennessee Volunteers. He will make $6 million annualy, which makes him the seventh-highest paid coach in college basketball.

"Rick has taken our program to unprecedented heights, and we are absolutely thrilled to have him continue coaching on Rocky Top for the rest of his career," White said. "He has constructed this program the right way, achieving elite-level success on the court while also ensuring that all our players excel off the court."

Rick Barnes forever

AD Danny White announced Thursday a lifetime contract for the most accomplished leader in the history of Tennessee men's basketball

read more → https://t.co/JbDam19rYh pic.twitter.com/vohqUq5WS5

— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) August 28, 2025

Barnes is a six-time conference coach of the year, including garnering SEC plaudits in 2017-18. A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame ballot in both 2024 and 2025, Barnes was both the Naismith Coach of the Year and USBWA Coach of the Year in 2018-19.

"I am incredibly thankful God brought me to the University of Tennessee 10-and-a-half years ago. It is an honor and a blessing to serve as the head basketball coach here," Barnes said. "I have had the chance to meet so many wonderful people, both on and off campus, who have impacted my life. The Knoxville community means so much not just to me, but to my entire family."

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