Tennessee coach Rick Barnes supplemented assistant's salary, NCAA violation

[jbcarol]

Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes committed an NCAA violation when he supplemented an assistant coach's pay from his own salary

"It was important to me that Des Oliver made the same amount of money as fellow assistant Michael Schwartz," Barnes said in the report. "I just felt those two positions needed to be equal. They felt it wasn't in the budget. I just said, 'I am going to pay it myself.'"

Unfortunately for Tennessee, that is an NCAA Level III violation and Vols submitted the violation in October.

Barnes' violation was one of 11 violations Tennessee reported in 2017, per the report.

Each was a Level III violation and considered minor.

[jbcarol]

Wes Rucker
‏Verified account @wesrucker247

When #Vols' previous administration wouldn't give one of Rick Barnes' assistants a raise Barnes thought he deserved, Barnes paid him out of his own pocket: http://bit.ly/2E88RMk

FOIA: SEC and NCAA accepted Tennessee's response to the violation and did not impose additional penalties, according to the report.

It was also reported that Oliver was given a raise under former athletic director John Currie, giving him equal pay with Schwartz.

Oliver has been on staff under Barnes all three seasons at Tennessee, while Schwartz was hired before the 2016-17 season to replace assistant coach Chris Ogden, who left Barnes and the Vols after one season to join Chris Beard's staff at Texas Tech.

"It's equal now," Barnes told the News Sentinel of the pay for Oliver and Schwartz. "But for a year, I did it. He works his butt off. It was important to me that he knows how much we all appreciate him."

[ALLVOL]

What a horrible thing to do Rick Barnes!!! Thank God we have the NCAA  to keep things like this in check ..