Josh Heupel, Rick Barnes stance of scheduling Memphis for Tennessee unchanged
The Tennessee "Big Orange Caravan" rolled through downtown Memphis Tuesday, the first of five stops on the Vols' annual fan appreciation tour.
Football coach Josh Heupel, men's basketball coach Rick Barnes and women's basketball coach Kellie Harper spent the evening mingling with hundreds of orange-and-white clad supporters inside Ballroom A at the Renasant Convention Center. They had glowing words for the Bluff City's fertile recruiting ground and how important Memphis is to the overall success of UT's athletic programs.
But they were relatively tight-lipped if the prospect of ever including the University of Memphis in future scheduling plans came up.
"We haven't. We haven't," Barnes said when asked whether there have been any discussions with Tigers men's basketball coach Penny Hardaway about rekindling the series.
The Tigers and Vols, to this point, have not completed a three-game basketball series that began in 2018. That’s when UT defeated Memphis at FedExForum in a game that got heated late in the second half. In 2019, the Tigers evened things up with a win in Knoxville. The neutral-site game was been called off in 2020 and 2021, first because both sides agreed to it due to COVID-related attendance restrictions. Then, the 2021 game was sacked shortly before tip-off after multiple positive COVID-19 tests and the ensuing contact tracing left the Tigers without enough players to field a full team.
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Heupel was asked whether he had plans to get together with Memphis football coach Ryan Silverfield while in town to discuss the programs meeting for the first time since 2010.
“I saw Ryan at one of the coaches’ clinics. He and I have had a relationship from the past, so,” he said, without elaborating.
Harper raved about Alex Simmons, a fellow former Lady Vol who was hired as Memphis' women's basketball coach earlier this month, calling herself "a fan" and pointing out that she will always be supportive of any former Lady Vol. The last time the in-state programs met in women's basketball was 2001. So, with Simmons in place, would Harper schedule the Tigers?
“I’m sure that’s gonna come up numerous times,” she said. “Scheduling is a little tricky, at times. But we’ll look through and see what opportunities await us in the next few years.”
UT athletic director Danny White was billed in promotional materials to be among those representing the Vols in Memphis Tuesday. But an athletic department spokesperson said White was not on the trip. Former football coach Jeremy Pruitt, former defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley and UT are set to face an NCAA Committee on Infractions panel beginning Wednesday in Cincinnati for their part in a high-profile recruiting scandal involving 18 Level 1 violations alleged to have been committed from 2018-21.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Josh Heupel, Rick Barnes stance of scheduling Memphis for Tennessee unchanged
