Rob Lanier on his four seasons at Tennessee: 'By far the best experience I've had'

Back in 2019, when Rob Lanier still had Twitter, he posted a goodbye. After four seasons as Tennessee Basketball’s associate head coach, he was leaving to become the new head coach at Georgia State, so he bid farewell to the program he had quickly grown to love.

“Something to the effect of ‘I don’t know what the criteria is to be a VFL,’” Lanier recalled Monday night, “‘but I’m hoping that me and my family qualify.’”

But there was another motive behind the post. And while looking back, Lanier wasn’t trying to hide it. 

“I did it on purpose,” he said, “because I wanted people to say good shit so I could go back and read it. And so whenever I was in a bad mood, I would just go and read the comments and all the nice things people were saying.”

‘Best experience that I’ve had in college basketball that night’

On Monday he took a different stroll down memory lane with his Rice basketball team, which he brought to Knoxville to face No. 20 Tennessee at Food City Center, the building he called home for the first four seasons of the Rick Barnes era with the Vols. 

The moment he still had in mind during his postgame press conference, after Tennessee beat Rice 91-66, was a game against Georgia in March 2018. 

Barnes, with Lanier by his side, had Tennessee ranked No. 16 with a 22-7 record, turning the program around after just 15 wins in 2015-16 and 16 wins in 2016-17.

The Vols clinched a share of the SEC’s regular-season championship with a 66-61 win — after being picked 13th in the league’s preseason media poll — thanks to 23 points from Admiral Schofield and 22 more from Grant Williams. 

What Lanier remembered, though, was everything that happened after the game ended. And who stuck around to join in on the celebration.

“If you were here that night,” Lanier said, “you know for the next 45 minutes to an hour, no one left the building. Best experience that I’ve had in college basketball that night. Just being there and seeing the fans not even leave the arena.”

Tennessee’s bench emptied as soon as the final horn sounded, with the Vols jumping up and down and exchanging hugs before putting on SEC championship shirts and hats, followed by players taking turns cutting down their own piece of the net. 

That was the lasting image for Lanier from his four monumental years — both on the court and off — at Tennessee.

“It’s just an incredible place,” he said. “And my kids were in high school here, middle school. So when we think of Knoxville, it’s like a home to us. It was such a great, great experience for me. It was the best experience I’ve had in the profession. 

“The four years I spent here, by far the best experience that I’ve had to this point. And I would say my kids, some of their most dearest friends and memories come from their time here. And Rick’s got everything to do with that.” 

Up Next: No. 20 Tennessee vs. Tennessee State, Thursday, 7 p.m. ET

Tennessee would tie the program’s single-season wins record with 31 in 2018-19 — Lanier’s final season with the Vols — and climbed to No. 1 in the polls for just the second time. The Vols set another program record with 19 straight wins during the season, going to the Sweet 16 as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

“If I were building a program,” Barnes said Monday night, “(Lanier would) be one of the first guys I’d call. And the success that we had at Texas and here to start with, he’s had so much to do with it. I love the guy to death.

“… Rob Lanier is really one of the greatest blessings that God ever brought into my life.”

Lanier was an assistant for Barnes at Texas from 1999-2001 and again from 2011-15. He spent three seasons as Georgia State’s head coach, then two seasons SMU before taking the Rice job in March 2024.

Before the time spent reflecting ended Monday night, Lanier had one more note to share about his former head coach, going out of his way to do so before walking out of Food City Center. 

“I’ll just say this, even though you didn’t ask,” Lanier said. “I’ve just never been around a person who gets so much satisfaction out of doing nice things for other people.

“That’s who he is. And everybody that’s been in his orbit has a story along those lines. And I’m just one of the many.”