Tennessee basketball adds two former players to Rick Barnes’ staff

Two former Tennessee basketball players have joined coach Rick Barnes’ staff prior to his 10th season in Knoxville.

Isaiah Sulack is returning to Tennessee as a graduate assistant and Colin Coyne is sticking around as a student assistant coach. Both were walk-ons during Barnes’ tenure and exhausted their eligibility following last season.

Sulack finished his playing career at Marist, while Coyne graduated after Tennessee’s 2023-24 season.

Isaiah Sulack, Colin Coyne join Tennessee basketball staff

Sulack spent three seasons at Tennessee from 2020-23. He played in six games in the final two seasons, getting a three-point play against South Carolina in February 2023. The CAK graduate finished his career at Marist in 2023-24. He averaged 2.1 points in seven games.

The 6-foot-6 guard played for Bossier Parish Community College and Olney Central College before coming to UT.

Coyne’s career wrapped up after Tennessee’s Elite Eight run last season.

Coyne played 14 minutes in eight games in his two seasons at UT. He has scored two points, including a dunk in Tennessee’s win against Norfolk State in December 2023. The 6-foot-9 forward spent his first three seasons at the University of Mary Washington, a Division III school in his hometown of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He played in 52 games and started 23 before transferring to Tennessee.

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Tennessee basketball staff has new assistants in Lucas Campbell, Bryan Lentz

In July, Lucas Campbell and Bryan Lentz were promoted to assistant coaches and Riley Collins was promoted to assistant director of player development. Tennessee has five assistant coaches, which became the allowable total for men’s and women’s basketball as of July 2023. UT has had the trio of Rod Clark, Justin Gainey and Gregg Polinsky for the past three seasons.

Campbell, who was a UT walk-on guard under Barnes from 2015-19, returned to Tennessee as the director of recruiting in June 2022. Lentz has been on Barnes’ staff since 2018 and is entering his seventh season at UT. He previously was the director of player development.

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Collins joined Tennessee as a graduate assistant prior to the 2022-23 season. He spent the past two years in the role before being hired in a full-time capacity as the assistant director of player development.

Mary-Carter Eggerr is the director of basketball operations, Garrett Medenwald is the strength and conditioning coach, and Chad Newman is the trainer.

Director of video analytics Luke Schapker and graduate assistants David Kasanganay and Scott Daughtry round out the UT staff.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Colin Coyne, Isaiah Sulack join Tennessee basketball staff