Rick Barnes: 2007-2008 Big XII Coach of the Year

Looks like SLX has his panties all in a wad again. It is simply beyond my comprehension that you can criticize the job that Barnes has done this year.

While you can make an argument that Drew is deserving, I'm not sure that his team overachieved at all by finishing fifth in the Big 12 with that talent.

As for Martin, if it hadn't been for the somewhat sleazeball tactics for getting Beasley and Walker on campus he wouldn't even be in the conversation. Or maybe I should say that because of those tactics he shouldn't be in it.
 
Drew's cupboard isn't exactly bare anymore, either. Going 9-7 with that talent isn't exactly Knight-esque, imo.
 
Baylor has all that talent? Coaches don't think so. Exactly one player (Jerrels) made the All B12 1st through 3rd team.

Can you name the only B12 school in the Top 6 that doesn't have a sure fire lottery pick? Hint: Augustin (UT), Arthur (KU), Beasley (KSU), B. Griffin (OU), Jordan (A&M).

Baylor's talent is only impressive when it is relative to what they used to have. It is not all that impressive when it is compared relative to the top half of the B12. Jerrells wasn't pursued by anyone else. Rogers was recruited by Texas and KU, but don't think he was offered. etc etc

Inarguably, Barnes has really done well putting together a great season after replacing one of the greatest college players to ever play in the B12. But he still returned 4 starters and had 4 HS All-Americans on the roster. Not exacltly slumming it.

Remember the B12 coaches preseason poll?

2007-08 BIG 12 PRESEASON POLL
Team (First place votes) Points
1. Kansas (10) 120
2. Texas 105
3. Texas A&M (2) 101
4. Kansas State 91
5. Missouri 66
Oklahoma 66
7. Oklahoma State 61
8. Texas Tech 60
9. Baylor 55
10. Nebraska 29
11. Iowa State 22
12. Colorado 16

I think you'd have to admit that while Texas exceeded expectations, Baylor blew them away.

In the end Barnes career dwarfs Drew, and that is clear, but this year here are a list of some of Baylor's accomplishments:

Second NCAA tournament in the last half century.
Second 20 win season in the last half century.
First Top 25 ranking since 1968.
First winning record in Conference in the history of the B12.
First B12 Road win since 2003 (ISU), then he followed it up with three more.
5-1 versus the B12 North.
First Preseason Tournament Championship away from Baylor... ever.
And he did it all coming out of the worst scandal in the history of NCAA basketball.

I think the B12 coaches thumbed their nose at Drew in favor of someone they like/respect. That is fine, but I am not sure it is based on the "numbers."
 
Making the NCAA field as an at large is way above average when the selection pool is well above 300 teams.

It's been miraculous the overall turnaround of the Baylor program Drew has engineered, even if this specific season isn't.

The talent level on the roster is remarkable, considering the program. Drew took Kevin Rogers after Texas and KU passed. No big program wanted Curtis Jerrells. He beat Texas fair and square on the recruitment of Henry Dugat. I don't know what happened with Tweety Carter, but the kid doesn't exactly have the heighth of an NBA early entry.

They got on Dunn and obtained a commitment from him before anyone else knew enough to recruit him hard.

He's done a great job over there. He's alienated pretty much every Big 12 staff that comes in contact with him, but his job isn't to win friends. It's to win games. It looks like not winning the conference coach of the year comes along with that particular package.
 
I actually have no argument against the remarkable nature of any of those things. I'm just saying that "Coach of the Year" is a one year award, not a 5 year or even a 2 year. If it were that (2 year award), then it would actually strengthen Barnes' case to win, according to your well-argued perspective.
 
There's a part of me that actually gets a bigger kick that Barnes won it even though I think Drew should have.

He's really not well liked among the coaching ranks at all, which I find amusing...and deserved.
 
Well I have seen everything now, we complain about Barnes and his methods of coaching his YOUNG team.
The other 11 coaches that play BB against the Horns know that our team "gets after their teams *** ". Barnes and defense are one and the same.

Barnes gets "mad and almost loses his team" because Barnes gets into their behinds for not playing Defense???
Every coach that I have spoken with will admit that they get pissed and mad at their players at one time or another Barnes just made it public. Kudo for doing so.

Barnes is a great coach but a low key type of coach, not flashy but is excellent in most coaching areas. His players will play Barnes style (defense) or sit during a game while Barnes drags us into the elite level of NCAA basketball.

I hope that Barnes stays another 10-15 years at UT. I dont think we deserve Barnes and the teams that he puts out year in and year out.

We start two guards under 6', a project type player, a defensive specialist, an inconsistant wing and we win the Big 12, 26 wins and we are not satisfied. PLEASE !
We win ugly and still have not learned how to play 40 minutes of BB because we are still a young team. Kevin was the leader and it was his team, its DJ's team but he does not lead like Kevin and he still needs another year to mature more as a BB Leader. just IMO. Barnes deserves everything he gets as coach.
Can anyone mention another coach they would rather have?
 
The numbers you cite simply state fact, that is Texas had arguably the best regular season in the Big 12. The coaches' preseason poll picked them to have the second best season. They showed them wrong.

What Baylor accomplished, while an inferior season, is quite frankly unbelievable given their program's history of futility and its proximity to a really ugly scandal.

If the COY is simply the coach with the best season, then it should be either Barnes or Self, and since, as you aptly pointed out UT beat KU it should be Barnes. But I was under the impression that the COY was more than just that. I can't think of an equivalent rebuilding job at a high major conference comparable to what Drew has done, and I don't think one exists.

But they don't like him and that's fine, you reap what you sow. But I think if it had been anyone else other than Drew with that season resume, this thread wouldn't exist.
 
the funny thing about discussing the "coach of the year" honor is that rather than debating the performance of the coaches you end up debating the criteria of the award. since the criteria is really not defined at all, the whole discussion is pretty pointless.
 
KU and Texas may not be the only Big XIII teams that other schools circle on their schedule, but I don't think Baylor has much of a target on it's back. Except for the fact that most of the other coaches don't like Drew, there's not much motivation involved in playing Baylor given their BB history. KU, because of it's BB reputation (and Texas because "we're kind of a big thing") gets everyone's best shot. This results in at least 1 or 2 upsets every year while teams like Baylor sneak up on a couple of better teams every year. Never underestimate that fact.
 
I agree that Barnes was more deserving last year than this year. We had lost all 5 starters and started 1 sophmore and 4 freshmen who were all naturally guards or small forwards. Unfortunately Barnes didn't get much credit for anything because it was "all Durant", which was ridiculous.
 
One bit of info, analyzed:

BU was a pre-season No. 9 pick in the Big XII.

They finished tied for 4th at 9-7.

A closer look at the standings reveals a very tightly bunched conference this year --- No. 9 finished at 7-9.

BU's finish in the Big XII wasn't that far off from pre-season predicitions, IMHO. Finishing 4th sounds a lot better than 9th, but it was only a 2-game difference.
 
I would have given the coy award to the unnamed assistant who straightened out Barnes after A&M. If Texas maintained the high level of play post KSU then I would be more on board in Barnes deserving the award.

I don't think it's a stretch to see that Drew or Martin were deserving of the award. Drew's team underachieved the last two years on the court. This year, they were expected to crater in the Big 12. They didn't and beat Tech on the road when they had to (something Texas failed to do). KSU had the chance to be a clusterfuck, especially after the towel incident, but finished third in one of the tougher conferences.

Texas had a lot of highs this year and in essence overachieved...but this team still has the mark that it can lose to anyone...and beat anyone.
 
I think they finished about three or four games ahead of where I expected. They won the B12, which I did not expect.

I thought Drew was an excellent candidate for COY. But it's hard to turn down a top-10 team that ties for a championship that it was not expected to win, and beat the team that was expected to win.

Personally, I also think there's a chance that some coaches were catty. But it's not like giving it to Barnes was a crime.
 
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