Rick Barnes was Virginia's head coach for a minute; Here's the real story

By Jerry Ratcliffe

*Photo: University of Tennessee Athletics*

Rick Barnes was actually Virginia’s head basketball coach for a few hours back in 1990, a little-known fact to many present-day Cavalier fans.

I was sports editor of the Charlottesville newspaper in those days and closely covered the entire coaching search when Terry Holland shocked UVA’s fan base with his decision to leave the program.

Then-athletic director Jim Copeland was heavily criticized for not handing over the reins to Holland’s longtime assistant, Dave Odom, immediately after Holland decided the 1989-90 season would be his last. Copeland refused, stating he would conduct a national search for his next coach.

Soon after Holland’s announcement and Copeland’s decision to open up the search, Odom accepted an offer to become Wake Forest’s head coach.

From that point onward, Copeland, mostly a one-man search committee, narrowed his list to Bruce Parkhill of Penn State, Pete Gillen of Xavier and Mike Montgomery of Stanford.

In early April, I was nosing around University Hall and damned if I didn’t run smack dab into Copeland and Montgomery walking out the back door of U-Hall, after a tour of the facility. Copeland did the right thing and introduced me to Montgomery, who looked perturbed that I was there, but nonetheless, was courteous and respectfully declined my due-dillegence offer to comment, which was understandable.

At that point, Montgomery appeared to be the leading candidate. He left town later that day without an offer.

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Less than 24 hours later, Barnes, who was at Providence, surfaced as the leading candidate. Holland was pushing for Barnes. They both grew up in rural North Carolina and were friends.

Copeland met Barnes in D.C., and things looked good, so they flew from D.C. to Charlottesville and began negotiations. By that time, it appeared Barnes would take over the Virginia program. Copeland had notified the other candidates that UVA had it’s man and those courtships quickly ended.

Copeland told me later that he had talked with Barnes late into the night in Copeland’s U-Hall office, and that Barnes had agreed to become Virginia’s next head coach.

Then, Copeland committed a cardinal sin for an athletic director. Barnes said he had to fly back to Providence and tell AD Dave Gavitt that he was leaving for Virginia. That’s a big no-no in the world of hiring a coach. Once a coach says yes, you don’t allow him to leave. You get him signed on the dotted line and call a press conference. At least, that’s the way it was in those days.

Copeland agreed to fly with Barnes to Providence the next morning on the UVA team plane, which I think was owned by the publisher of my newspaper. Off they went.

The plan, Copeland told me, was for him to wait at the airport for Barnes to return and they would fly back to Charlottesville together.

Barnes never returned.

Gavitt turned up the heat on Barnes, who still had two years left on a four-year deal. He had no buyout, but Providence wanted money if he was leaving. The Friars guilt-tripped the 35-year-old coach about loyalty and such. Also, Copeland wanted Barnes to keep Virginia’s assistant coaches — Jeff Jones, Craig Littlepage, Tom Perrin — something that was a bit of a sticking point.

Copeland returned to Charlottesville as the lone passenger on that plane trip.

His coaching search had gone up in smoke before his very eyes. Where would he turn?

Holland had an idea. I was talking secretly with Holland throughout the process and during one of our night-time conversations, I asked, “What’s Jim going to do now?”

Holland said, “What about Jeff Jones?”

Jones was only 29 years old and had no head-coaching experience, but Holland was convinced his protégé could handle the job. Holland convinced Copeland, who hired Jones before the team banquet. In fact, Copeland told Jones before they entered the banquet room that under no circumstances was he to tell anyone that he was the new head coach.

Meanwhile, a couple years later, Barnes left Providence for Clemson, then Texas (where he was eventually fired) and hired by Tennessee, where he has a lifetime contract.

A Godly man, Barnes believes Knoxville is where he’s supposed to be, as his Volunteers take on Virginia tomorrow night in the Midwest Region second round. He’ll be going up against good friend Dave Odom’s son, Ryan, the Virginia coach.

Barnes has no regrets. He talked briefly about the 1990 soap-opera-like scenario on Saturday in Philadelphia, site of tomorrow night’s game (6:10 p.m.).

“You know, it’s been a long time ago, but I grew up in North Carolina, grew up all ACC basketball. That’s all I knew,” Barnes said Saturday. “Like anybody, I knew about North Carolina and the Big Four, and once I got my full-time job at George Mason, I fell in love with the state of Virginia. I spent so much time recruiting that state and had the chance to go and did accept a job, and then decided it wasn’t the right time, the right thing to do, and I don’t think I thought about it since.

“It’s a long story, but God has just taken care of me. I can tell you, every step I’ve taken, I think he’s sovereign over all that. I just know I’ve been blessed everywhere I’ve been. I have had so many really good jobs. I look back, I’ve made more mistakes than I can even tell you I’ve made, but through that whole time, I know the good Lord carried me through it. Believe me, I made a lot of mistakes. The Virginia thing wasn’t part of the plan, and, like I said, I ended up at Clemson, on to Texas and to Tennessee. I’m a truly blessed man and I thank God for that.”

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