What Rick Barnes told Rodney Terry after he took over as Texas head coach

Rodney Terry took over on game day. He was named the acting head coach at Texas on December 12, only hours removed from former head coach Chris Beard’s arrest. Later than night, the Longhorns were hosting Rice.

“He was in an uncharted situation that very few coaches have been in,” Rick Barnes said on Friday. 

Terry kept Texas on track against Rice, an 87-81 win that required overtime. He’s 10-2 after 12 games in charge, remaining as acting head coach through the rest of the season.

Not long after that win over Rice, Terry connected with Barnes, his former boss. 

Terry was a Texas assistant for nine years under Barnes, from 2002-11, before getting hired as head coach at Fresno State and then UTEP. He returned to Texas to join Beard’s staff in April 2021, resigning at UTEP to take the job alongside former Tennessee assistant coach Chris Ogden, another limb of the Barnes coaching tree. 

When Barnes talked to Terry, it was all about reassurance. 

“The first thing I said, ‘Hey, you know what you’re doing,’” Barnes said on Friday, recalling the conversation. “‘Be yourself, but until the situation is resolved, you’re going to have to go about it in a little bit different way. Just make sure you’re thinking most of all about the players because the staff is going to be fine.’”

The situation was resolved, at least for the time being, on January 5, when Texas fired Beard after he was charged with a third-degree felony for family violence.

“Now it’s going to shift into another level,” Barnes told Terry, “that you’re going to have to go to and that’s where you’re really going to have to be comfortable with the team and what you want to do. That’s where you have to be willing to make the changes you need to make.”

“He’s done that in his own subtle way,” Barnes added. “He’s slowing doing some things I know he’s comfortable with.”

Rodney Terry is 10-2 through 12 games as Texas interim head coach

Terry has kept Texas ranked in the top ten. He’s led the Longhorns to a 6-2 record so far in Big 12 play, tied for first in the league standings, navigating around bumps in the road against Kansas State, a 116-103 loss in Austin, and a 78-67 loss at Iowa State on January 17.

Texas is No. 8 in the NET and No. 9 overall in the KenPom.com ratings, ranked No. 12 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 27 in defensive efficiency. They Longhorns are currently projected as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Terry talking with Barnes after the win over Rice was nothing out of the ordinary. He leaned on Barnes during his head coaching tenures at Fresno State and UTEP, too.

“Coach has always given me incredible advice,” Terry said on Thursday. “… He wouldn’t tell me what to do, but he would give me some pointers on things in terms of how he would particularly deal with things.” 

The topic of the conversation  — the situation that was unfolding in Austin  — was the only difference this time around. 

“He said to me you know what, you better be prepared to be in that seat all year long,” Terry said. “Be prepared to wheel this team throughout the rest of the course of the season. And you’re more than prepared for this opportunity. You’ve got 10 years under your belt, you’re successful, you’ve been doing it. 

“And you’ve been coaching this team already, so you’re prepared for this opportunity. You’re prepared for this season, so go out and enjoy the ride. Try to take these guys are far as you can take them.”

Up Next: No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 10 Texas, Saturday, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN

Terry, a Texas native, started his coaching career in high school basketball, working at the prep level for seven years before getting hired as an assistant at Baylor in 1996. Barnes hired him away from UNC Wilmington in 2002. 

Barnes hasn’t been surprised watching Terry keeping this Texas team on track during an unprecedented season.

“I think after they won that first game,” Barnes said, “you saw the respect that the players have for him with the way they treated him after the game … he’s been around it and been around high-level basketball for a long time and he knows what it takes.”