Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes announced Tuesday that he has hired Bryan Lentz in a Video Coordinator/Director of Player Development role.
Lentz, who has prior history working alongside Barnes, fills the vacancy created when Riley Davis accepted an assistant coaching position at Texas-Arlington in April.
“I’ve known Bryan for a long time,” Barnes said. “He was with us at Texas, and he did an outstanding job. Then he took an opportunity at Appalachian State and was great there as well. When this position opened up, I immediately knew Bryan could be an ideal fit.”
Lentz comes to Tennessee following four seasons as an assistant coach at Appalachian State. Prior to that, the Hickory, North Carolina, native spent four years as a special assistant on Barnes’ staff at Texas, where he was involved in all aspects of internal operations within the Longhorns program. During his time at Texas, the Longhorns compiled an 87-48 record and made three NCAA Tournament appearances (2011, 2012, 2014).
Lentz began his coaching career working for nine years coaching alongside his father, legendary Lenoir-Rhyne head coach John Lentz. During that stretch, the Bears won five South Atlantic Conference regular-season titles, one SAC Tournament title and made to five NCAA Division II Tournament appearances. In his final two seasons at L-R, Bryan served as the Bears’ associate head coach.
A four-year letterwinner at Lenoir-Rhyne—which is also Barnes’ alma mater—Lentz finished his collegiate playing career with 1,374 points and ranked fifth in school history in assists (388), steals (159) and free-throw percentage (.824). He was named South Atlantic Conference Freshman of the Year in 1996-97 and earned second-team All-SAC honors as a sophomore in 1997-98.
Lentz earned his bachelor’s degree in sports management from Lenoir-Rhyne in 2000. He and his wife, Christy, have two sons, Luke and Owen.
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