The dust has settled, the ink has dried, and the whispers have stopped. Rick Barnes will return as the Tennessee basketball head coach, despite entertaining a lucrative offer from the blue-blooded UCLA Bruins. For a few days, it seemed like the Volunteers were about to lose a coach that has helped them bring them to unforeseen levels of hype and some of the success with it.
Oddly enough, most of the discussion hasn’t been around the relief that Barnes returning provides. Instead, it’s been about his comments on the reason he stayed in Knoxville.