Rick Barnes reacts to former assistant Rodney Terry’s Texas firing

Rick Barnes is confident that Rodney Terry has a bright future ahead of him.

Texas AD Chris Del Conte announced Terry’s dismissal on Sunday, shortly before the program hired Sean Miller as the new head basketball coach of the Longhorns.

Barnes was Texas’s head coach from 1998-2015. For 10 of those seasons, 2002-11, Terry was on Barnes’ staff as an assistant before leaving for the Fresno State head coaching job.

Terry and Barnes remain close. The Tennessee head coach shared that they talked before and after Terry was let go.

“I talked to him obviously before he had heard, and you know, he was hoping to have a chance to talk about it with Chris Del Conte and see if there was a way moving forward,” Barnes said during a Wednesday media opportunity. “But after it happened — I talked to him the day before — I called him back after I’d gotten the news and before I could even say anything, he said, ‘Coach, I’m good.’ He said, ‘I know God’s got a plan for me.’ He said, ‘(God) brought me here, he’s got something planned.’ And I think he’s just in a good place as a person.”

Terry’s Texas tenure began during the 2022-23 season after Chris Beard was fired. Terry guided the Longhorns to a 22-8 record and trip to the Elite 8. Since then, Texas has not been able to make it back to the Sweet 16. Last year, Texas’s season ended with a 21-13 record and exit in the Round of 32. Last week, the Longhorns dropped a First Four game to Xavier, finishing the 2024-25 campaign 19-16 with a 6-12 SEC record.

“Rodney’s a good man,” Barnes said. “I thought the staff did a good job with their team. He’ll be fine. Whatever he decides to do. I think he’s already had opportunities that maybe he passed on. But I love Rodney. It warmed my heart when I heard him say that God had a plan for him because I believe that. I think he’s got a plan for all of us. I think he’s sovereign. I don’t think his sovereignty has ever lost. So he’ll put him where he wants him to be.”

Terry, 56, is 225-193 overall as a head coach after going 62-37 at Texas.

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.