9. Will the fans embrace this team?
The Rick Barnes hire was met with almost universal approval from the fanbase. Hiring the regular NCAA tournament attendee who brought long-term stability at Texas seemed like the right move after a tumultuous few years in the program. He’s said all the right things so far, but he’s also not the natural personality/marketer that Donnie Tyndall or Bruce Pearl were in Knoxville. That doesn’t mean he can’t be successful – winning, after all, will be what’s he judged on. But if there are early struggles, will the fans embrace him and this roster? What about in 2016-17 when four more key members of the team move on and the Vols are extremely young? Barnes proved that he can build a winner in Austin, and now he’ll need to prove to the fans that he can do it in Knoxville.
