Tennessee managed to beat Auburn on Saturday, but the score was too close for Volunteers coach Rick Barnes’ comfort. After the game, Barnes tried to downplay some of the team’s mistakes late in the game … but he immediately regretted it.
While Barnes praised Auburn, he also questioned some of Tennessee’s passing plays late in the game. “Sometimes, I wonder if my players are betting on games,” he added, immediately realizing that wasn’t the best way to put it.
Barnes responded as follows:
“At the end of the game, some of the passes we threw, I don’t know what to say, except sometimes I wonder if my players were betting on the game. I shouldn’t say that. Just brush it off. I just want to know what happened. Because I know our players are too good to do that.”
At that point, Barnes probably looked at Tennessee’s communications team and said, “Is this bad… I apologize. I shouldn’t have said that. But the truth is, we’ve got to be smarter.”
advertise
Barnes initially made his statement about gambling as a joke, drawing laughter from people at the news conference. While he clearly didn’t mean any harm, he quickly realized it was wrong to jokingly accuse his players of betting on games.
With the rise and normalization of legalized sports betting, there have been a number of NCAA betting scandals involving current and former players. In September, Fresno State and San Jose State players were suspended for their alleged involvement in gambling scandals. That same month, the NCAA said it was investigating 13 former players from six different schools for additional sports betting violations.
Given the magnitude of these scandals and issues, Barnes knew he messed up. He quickly backtracked, apologized and made it clear he was joking, but only after he had said something.
