Rick Barnes grew up in North Carolina and played college basketball at Lenoir-Rhyne College. Barnes has been the Head Basketball Coach at George Mason, Providence, Clemson, Texas, and the University of Tennessee.
Barnes advanced to three NCAA tournaments at Providence and three consecutive at Clemson before leaving for Texas in 1998. At Clemson, his Tigers spent one week of the 1996-97 season ranked second in the AP Poll, the highest ranking in school history.
In 2018–19, Barnes was named the Naismith College Coach of the Year after the Vols finished 31–6 and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. He was also awarded the 2019 Henry Iba Award for Coach of the Year by the US Basketball Writer's Association. He is an openly devout Christian.