Tennessee has offered its opening to Rick Barnes and, barring a late snag in negotiations, the former Texas coach is expected to accept, a source told CBSSports.com.
A deal could be finalized by the end of Monday, a source said.
Barnes made 16 NCAA Tournament appearances in 17 years at Texas before formally resigning his position under pressure Sunday afternoon. He peaked in 2003 -- when T.J. Ford led the Longhorns to the Final Four. That's the positive on his resume. But the negative is that Barnes only escaped the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament five times in the past 17 seasons. His last Sweet 16 came in 2008.
Barnes, 60, was, prior to Texas, the coach at George Mason, Providence and Clemson. He was the CAA coach of the Year in 1987 and the Big 12 Coach of the Year in 1999, 2003, 2008 and 2014. But this season's team that underachieved ultimately convinced Texas' administration that a change in leadership was needed, sources told CBSSport.com. So Barnes was essentially removed at Texas and thus available to pursue the Tennessee job that opened last week when Donnie Tyndall was fired after one season because of NCAA violations he allegedly committed while coaching at Southern Miss.
