Rick Barnes is the winningest active coach in college basketball.
The Vols coach notched the 836th win in his career with Tennessee's 78-65 win against Kentucky in the Sweet 16 on Friday at Lucas Oil Stadium. He moved a game ahead of Arkansas coach John Calipari with the victory to top active coaches.
Barnes is in his 38th season as a head coach and his 10th at Tennessee. He has an 836-422 record with a 232-108 mark at Tennessee. He has led UT to back-to-back Elite Eights for the first time in program history. The No. 2 seed Vols (30-7) play No. 1 seed Houston (33-4) on Sunday (2:20 p.m. ET, CBS) for a spot in the Final Four.
Barnes, 70, started his career with a 20-10 record at George Mason in the 1987-88 season. The Hickory, North Carolina, native was 108-76 in six seasons at Providence from 1988-94. He spent four seasons at Clemson, going 74-48 from 1994-98. He is the winningest coach in Texas history. He went 402-180 in 17 seasons from 1998-2015.
Calipari and St. John's coach Rick Pitino both have more wins than Barnes, but both have vacated wins due to NCAA violations.
Calipari had to vacate all 38 wins from Memphis' 2007-08 season due to NCAA rules violations. He also had to vacate four wins from UMass' run to the 1996 Final Four because of improper benefits received by star Marcus Camby. Calipari has coached at UMass, Memphis, Kentucky and Arkansas.
Pitino vacated 123 wins between 2010-14, including Louisville's 2013 national title. He has coached at Providence, Kentucky, Louisville, Iona and St. John's.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @ByMikeWilson or Bluesky @bymikewilson.bsky.social. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital ...
