Just In: Tennessee Hires Marquette Associate HC Justin Gainey

Tennessee’s men’s basketball program saw two rising stars in Kim English and Desmond Oliver take new jobs as head coaches early this off-season, leaving Rick Barnes  to work quickly to replace them. Barnes quickly tabbed Rod Clark as one replacement and has now added Justin Gainey from Marquette. 

"I coached against Justin when he was the point guard at NC State," Barnes said in a press release from the university.  "He was an incredibly tough competitor then, and he has that same tenacity now as a coach. Justin has a passion for on-court player development that fits well with our staff. Our players are going to love working with him to grow their game.

He's proven that he can recruit effectively nationwide, and we're particularly excited about his ability to maintain our strong ties throughout the state of North Carolina."

Below is a look at Gainey’s bio courtesy of Marquette: 

“The 2020-21 campaign will mark the first for Justin Gainey as an associate head coach with the Marquette University men’s basketball program, but will be his fourth overall with the team.

Gainey was a member of Wojciechowski’s first staff at Marquette, serving with the Golden Eagles from 2014-17 and spent each of the past two seasons at Arizona as an assistant coach. In his two years in Tucson, Gainey coached 2020 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and First Team All-Pac-12 forward Zeke Nnaji. He also helped Nico Mannion earn Second Team All-Pac-12 accolades and both Nnaji and Mannion were on the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team list. 

Following his departure from Marquette, Gainey went to work with his former collegiate coach, Herb Sendek, as an assistant coach at Santa Clara. While with the Broncos, he worked with SCU’s perimeter players that included First Team All-WCC selection K.J. Feagin. Santa Clara’s 2018 recruiting class ranked among the 10-best mid-major recruiting classes in the nation.

The former standout player at North Carolina State arrived in Milwaukee after serving for four seasons at Appalachian State as an assistant coach. While with the Mountaineers, he helped develop the point guards and multiple players into all-conference performers under head coach Jason Capel.

Gainey joined Appalachian State in 2010 after spending one season as an assistant coach at Elon under head coach Matt Matheny. Prior to his season with the Phoenix, he spent three seasons on staff at his alma mater, NC State.

In three seasons on Sidney Lowe's staff at NC State, Gainey served as administrative coordinator (2006-08) and director of basketball operations (2008-09). He assisted in recruiting, scouting and coordinated the program's summer camps. In addition to his college playing career and time as a coach, Gainey spent three seasons playing professionally both in the United States and abroad.

Gainey played in Europe for two seasons. He competed for Austria's Woerthersee Piratens in 2000-01 and was selected to the league's all-star team. In his second year, Gainey played for France's Olympique D' Antibes in the Pro A league. Gainey completed his playing career for the USBL's Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs.

As a standout point guard at NC State from 1996-2000, he was a three-year starter, served as a team captain and was an honorable mention all-conference pick.”