Rick Barnes Awkwardly Backtracks After Joking About Tennessee Players Betting On Games

You ever say something and then immediately try to pull those words back into your mouth? That's exactly what happened to Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes on Saturday.

Following the Volunteers' 77-69 win over Auburn, Barnes attempted to make light of some of his team's late-game blunders. But then he immediately regretted it.

"Sometimes, I wonder if my guys are betting on games," Barnes joked.

Oof.

The veteran coach quickly recovered.

"I shouldn't say that. Erase that," he said. "I'm just wondering what's happening. Because I know we're too good of players to do that."

Then, after seemingly looking over at Tennessee's communications staff, Barnes added, "Was that bad? I apologize. I shouldn't have said that. But that fact is, we've gotta get smarter."

Barnes was obviously joking, but given recent gambling scandals among college and professional athletes, people are extra sensitive to that sort of thing. 

As OutKick's Trey Wallace previously reported, players from Fresno State and San Jose State were banned in September for their alleged involvement in a gambling scandal. That same month, the NCAA said it was seeking additional sports-betting violations against 13 former players from six different schools.

And that's not to mention the dozens of pro athletes who have been busted over the last few years for betting on games.

Rick Barnes has been the head coach at Tennessee since 2015.

(Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)

Back in October, the NCAA approved a policy that would allow its student-athletes and staff members to bet legally on sports — as long as they weren't college sports. But after intense pushback and concerns over integrity and recent scandals, two-thirds of Division I member schools voted to rescind that rule the following month.