Rick Barnes
Appearances
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
And I would recommend anybody that loves sports and wanted to get a history of announcers and everybody in the game, that is an incredible book to read by David Haversham, The Summer of 49.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
Well, you know, I go back when I first got into coaching, you know, I knew really when I was in college, I wanted to be a coach and I played for a really good basketball coach. by the name of Bob Hodges, who still is East Carolina's all-time leading scorer. And he made us put together a coaching book.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
And so back then, the coaches that I really – first one I really, really, really dove into trying to learn everything about was Vince Lombardi. And then from there, obviously Coach Wooden was in his prime at that point in time, Dean Smith, Bob Knight. Those were the guys that I really – anything and everything I could get my hands on. I wanted to learn about them and study them.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
I'll be very honest with you. Every game that I have coached, I have used something from Coach Knight and Coach Smith. Every game. When we went to A&M, we actually did some things that we hadn't done all year that Coach Knight would have
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
been very proud of because when he retired, he called me one time and he said, you know, you need to come out here to Lubbock and let me teach you how to play, how to coach basketball. That's what he said to me. And he said, offensive basketball. And so I went out, spent a day with him, and we had a wonderful time. And, you know, he's just so passionate about what he believed in.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
And that's what made it work, obviously. And it was hard, as hard to guard as anything. We'd go into every game against him. thinking that we were this great man-to-man team. And after two minutes, we'd end up going zone because we couldn't guard them. And to be honest, we had better players at every position, but he made every game so competitive.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
And then Coach Smith, when I was in college, I had to do a coaching book. And everything I did in that book was based on what I could find about what Coach Smith, you know, being from North Carolina, going to school in North Carolina. We have some special situations that we used, you know,
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
And then when I got into coaching, you know, I learned so much from going around with the best high school coaches, Morgan Wooten, Joe Gallagher, Stu Vetter, some coaches that were just great high school coaches that you could learn from. And to be honest with you, I really think if I stop even today trying to go back –
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
and doing some of the things and trying to continue to learn how to play, coach this game, I think I'd quit because that excites me that I know that even as long as I've been in this game, I can still learn it, learn some things about it and learn from everybody.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
I've learned something from everybody I've coached against, but that's what's exciting about it because you can coach this game, play this game a lot of different ways, but... I don't ever want to get stale and mundane. And so that's what I do to keep myself going. I'm always looking. And Bob McKillop has been a major influence on my career.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
You know, we were together my first year in coach when I was a volunteer and he was a full time coach at Davidson. He and I would go running every day and I'd pick his brain about everything. And he's had a tremendous influence on my life.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
You know, I was growing up. I was always woods brother got back today. You know, Kelly Arbora, David Pearson, those kind of guys. And obviously I became a big Dell Earnhardt senior. And when he passed, you know, obviously would love to see his son do well. Then became a Martin Truex guy.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
But also knowing Joe Gibbs, I pull for his because he was the head coach of the Washington Redskins when I was an assistant at George Mason back in the day. And I got to spend a lot of time at Redskin Park out there. with a friend that, uh, new coach Gibbs. And so I do pull for, uh, those guys, but for some reason I caught myself yesterday pulling for, uh, Kyle Bush.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
Uh, I don't know if it's because last year was the first time he hadn't won in 20 years. And, uh, But as he's getting older, I'd love to see him have a great run. Like last year, I was pulling hard for Martin Truax to finish it up on a great note. So this year, I think my guy is going to be Kyle Busch and hope that he can get back where he wants to be one more time.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
Yeah, yeah. I get the guys being competitive. And I will say this to you. I've become very impressed with – Michael Jordan's team, you know, with Denny Hamlin. And Bubba Wallace's mother, I think, ran track here at the University of Tennessee. So I've met Bubba, and he tries to bring his dad over to a game every year. And so I will be pulling for him, obviously, too.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
But, yeah, some of those guys, I wish I could be back in the day, like when Richard Petty, you know, they were the first family, I think, that had multiple cars. And one of them went out and was a blocker. I'd like to be a blocker. I don't think I'm good enough to win, but I could definitely wreck somebody.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
No, I dreamed about it. I used to, I can remember sitting in the third and fourth grade getting in trouble because I'd always draw race cars. My teacher would come by and I'm not doing the schoolwork and I'd be trying to draw different race cars and love trying to put these creative numbers on them and all this and all that. But, uh, You failed at your dreams.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
You did not succeed. I did get a chance to drive the pace car over at Bristol when I first got here, and I'd ask somebody, I'd say, what's the fastest this car has ever gone around this track? And they said, Carl Edwards took it around the track at 97 miles an hour over there. It's a small track. I said, well, I'm going to beat that. I got it to 75, and I had enough.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
You're dead. P.J. Tucker or LaMarcus Aldridge? Oh, man. Are you saying when you say shot for my life? Shot for your life, coach. They got the ball in their hands. They're going to shoot it. Is it in the corner?
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
It's for your life. Get it wrong. You're joining Dale Senior. I love LaMarcus Aldridge, but P.J. Tucker, second best college score I've ever coached.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
DJ Augustine.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
Yeah, I did. He was a great player. But DJ Augustine played with KD and had a big influence on KD, too. I can't remember, could tell you how many times DJ would go over to Kevin and say, man, we need you to take this game over. And I'd say, I agree with him. Take this game over.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
Denny Hamlin.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
The intimidator or the king? I know you think I'm crazy when I say that. It's just Denny's been around a long time, and when you get to my age, you kind of like those older guys.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
Earnhardt or Petty, Coach? You know what? I have to tell you this story. I was at Providence. Do we have time for me to tell you a story? Yes, let's go. Here's what happens. I'm at Providence College, and I've taken the Clemson job. And I get a call one day from the guy from the Providence Journal.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
He said, I'm going to ask you a quick question, kind of what you did right there, and say, you can't think about it. You've got to be spontaneous. He said, if you could have dinner with any two people, who would it be? And I said, Billy Graham, Richard Petty.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
Because when I was growing up in the state of North Carolina, Billy Graham, the great evangelist, I mean, everybody knew him around the world, telling everybody about Jesus Christ. And then Richard Petty was the king, right?
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
I get a call from a guy and he says, would you really like to meet Billy Graham? And I said, yeah, so he's going to be in Boston at a function up there. You and your wife can come up. So we drove up there and went to a ballroom. And I didn't know how many people were going to be there. It just happened to be about 5,000 people. But they took me over to meet him.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
And he was in his 70s and wasn't as healthy as, you know, he was getting older. But when he went up on the stage, I mean, I've never seen a guy transform himself and start talking about Jesus. And then two years later, I get a chance. I'm at a Speedway. And the year we went to the Final Four, And Dale Jarrett, who I grew up with, and Dale's racing on NASCAR, you know, his family.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
And Dale invites me to the race up in Texas, and I go up there. And as we're getting ready to leave, Dale's brother is hustling us out so we can get on a helicopter and get over to the airport to get out. And I see Richard Petty standing by himself, and I go over and I say, I've got to meet the king. I say, I grew up really loving this guy.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
So I walk over there, he's eating an apple, and I'm telling him this story. Red or green, yeah. You know, I'm telling Richard about it, and he looked at me and he said – Richard Petty, Billy Graham, he said, we're a long way apart, man. But he said, I appreciate that.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
But I did get a chance to meet him, and obviously growing up, I don't know why I wasn't a big Richard Petty fan growing up, but for some reason, I loved Dale Earnhardt and And obviously, like everyone involved with NASCAR, it was a sad day when he lost his life. But I admire watching Richard Petty still doing what he's doing, going to the track and doing what he does.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
No, come on. I tell you what, you're going to have to hang me because I'm not going to pick between those two. Oh, you've got to pick one, coach. You've got to pick one. It's the shock of your life, coach. Forget how bad TJ was.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
Well, because you know what? TJ Ford taught me a lot about college basketball and coaching a great player. And then Kevin Durant, because of what TJ taught me when KD came in, I said, hey, man, you're going to be who you are, do what you do because – TJ Ford won 77 straight games.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
And one of the greatest stories in my coaching career, we're playing Oklahoma the year that Kansas, us, and Oklahoma are 1, 2, 3. We all get a number one seed. And we're at senior night up at Norman. And Kelvin's the coach. And we've had some epic battles. I get mad at Brian Boddicker.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
He gave up three straight offensive rebounds, and I called timeout, and this is when I was really emotional, and I reamed Brian Boddicker and said, hey, man, you are done. I'm not going to play any more the rest of tonight. And he goes over.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
I put him on the bench, and they're up 11 points, and I'm walking to the bench, and TJ walks up behind me, puts his arm around me, and said, Coach, what are you thinking right now? And I said, I think we're getting our butt kicked. And he said, do you want to win? I said, I want to win. He said, well, for us to win, you have to put Brian Boddicker back in the game.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
I said, TJ, you heard what I just told Brian. I told him I'm not going to play him anymore tonight. And he looked me dead in the eye, and he said, Coach, you don't want to win then. So I walked right down to the bench, and I said, Brian, I'm going to give you one more chance. Whoa! And he goes in the game, and this is a true story. In 45 seconds, he hit three straight threes.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
And we ended up coming back, winning the game. And when I'm walking off the court, TJ came up and he hit me so hard on the butt and looked at me and he said, you're a heck of a coach. And I wanted to hit him because he hit me so hard. I didn't know it was. And so I learned right then and there more than ever.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
When you got a guy like him, and then when Kevin came in, all I ever told Kevin Durant, we're going to help you get better at what you do, but you got to be who you are. And obviously, if he told me Kevin's going to be a Hall of Famer, I wish TJ's career could have gone different for him, but he had that neck problem. But those two guys...
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
taught me a lot about how to deal with great, great players. And in some ways, it's been a curse because those two guys love basketball.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
Well, you're right on it. I'd rather be in practice. You really are. I'd rather be in. I would much rather do that. But, you know, as you know, we owe it to the program and we owe it to our fans to get out there and talk about our program. We're proud of what we've been able to do here the last 10 years. But this time of year, you do get so focused in on your team and, you know, from game to game.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
how hard this league is. I mean, it's ridiculous what this league has become this year, but, uh, it is what it is, you know, and, um, you've got to be ready to play our preparation. We, as soon as I get done with you, we'll go in and start, uh, our film session for today and then get ready for LSU.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
Then we got a late game there tomorrow night, which it's, it's tough when you play those nine o'clock games, uh, On the road, but it is what it is. And then we come back and we were supposed to play Alabama at 12 o'clock on Saturday, but they moved that back to four. So whatever comes your way this time of year, you just have to do it.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
I love NASCAR. I'm a big NASCAR fan.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
Yeah, I'm not into that rule. I'm not into that one. I think they ought to have to race it all the way to the finish line. Last week, the Daytona race, it must be a big sport because they stayed on the air from about 12 o'clock to 10 o'clock that night because of rain delays and all this and all that. I grew up in Hickory, North Carolina, where NASCAR started over in that area.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
At a young age, my brothers and I, we'd find a way to get to Hickory Speedway or Lenore Burke Antioch Speedway, and we'd go to a race on Friday or Saturday night. My first love was NASCAR, but then I fell in love with the New York Yankees and baseball was probably my second love. But I don't mind talking about basketball because it's changed so much in my 40 years, over 40 years in the business.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
Well, you know, I haven't kept up with anything other than when I talk about the Yankees, I'm talking about 1963, 64. Good old days. There you go. That's because, you know what, to be honest with you, you know, there's only three TV stations on TV at the time. And for whatever reason, the Yankees were on every Saturday and playing somebody. But I was...
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Hour 2: Rick Barnes Would Rather Be At Practice (feat. Rick Barnes)
Coach Knight gave me a book one time because he was an avid reader, and one of the books he gave me he thought was one of the greatest sport books he's ever read was The Summer of 49, talking about the rivalry with the Red Sox and the Yankees.