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Rick Barnes earns hefty bonus for Tennessee finishing top five in final AP Poll Top 25

IMG_6598by: Nick Kosko04/08/25nickkosko59
USATSI_25807882 (1)
Brianna Paciorka / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes received a hefty contract bonus with the Vols finishing in the top five in the final AP Poll. With a No. 5 ranking, Barnes’ team can look back on a solid season that finished in the Elite Eight.

“Tennessee men’s basketball team is No. 5 in final Associated Press media poll rankings,” USA Today’s Steve Berkowitz wrote on Twitter. “This will give coach Rick Barnes a final-rankings bonus of $400,000. (He seemed assured of at least $200K for a No. 10-thru-No. 6 finish when Vols reached NCAA tournament Elite Eight.).”

Barnes and Tennessee finished 30-8 this season, making it to the Elite Eight for the second straight year. Other than his first two seasons and the canceled 2020 Tournament, Tennessee’s made NCAAs every season during Barnes’ 10 seasons.

He is 232-107 in his time with Tennessee. Barnes is also 836-421 overall as a head coach with Tennessee, Texas, Clemson, Providence and George Mason.

Still, it was disappointing to fall short of the Final Four. Barnes had to recap the shooting struggles against Houston in the regional final.

“We got to make some shots obviously,” Barnes said. “They’re a good defensive team, but our spacing’s not very good. We know they’re gonna jump the gaps heavy.

“We’re supposed to be sliding to make the next pass. I didn’t think we were aggressive enough coming off of it the way we needed to, in terms of making the next pass but we still got to do a better job defensively too.”

Going into it, Barnes was his typical self, being thankful for the opportunity. With the way Tennessee has played in recent years, they could be back in 2026.

“We’re blessed to have this opportunity to continue to play in the tournament and just an incredible amount of respect for Kelvin Sampson and his team,” Barnes said. “I’ve known [Houston head coach] Kelvin [Sampson] a lifetime.

“He and I have kind of grown up together, kind of grown old together, too. We know it’s going to be an extremely difficult challenge. We respect their ability and how hard they play and how well they’re coached. So we know what we’re walking into.”