Vols lose Oliver, gain Clark
Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes lost an assistant Monday but gained one as well.
Desmond Oliver, a Volunteers assistant for the past six seasons, was introduced Monday as the new head coach at East Tennessee State. He is the second Tennessee assistant to earn a head-coaching opportunity since this year’s team ended its 18-9 season, with George Mason having named Kim English as its new coach late last month.
Oliver has replaced Jason Shay, who recently resigned after his one year yielded a 13-12 record, which ended a program streak of five consecutive seasons with 24 or more wins.
“ETSU basketball has a history of success that was attractive to me,” Oliver said during Monday’s introductory news conference. “This program has experienced success on the court and has also successfully cultivated strong relationships throughout the community. I’m really excited about this opportunity to build on that and lead us as we take our next steps forward. “My staff and I are going to hit the ground running and begin our pursuit of cementing ETSU as the hardest working and most respected program in the Southern Conference.”
Oliver, who helped guide Tennessee to a share of the 2018 Southeastern Conference title with Auburn, spent five seasons at Charlotte before coming to Knoxville. He is the 18th coach in ETSU history.
Joining the Tennessee staff is Rod Clark, who spent this past season at Austin Peay. The 28-yearold Clark came to the Governors after working at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the 2019-20 season.
From 2017-19, Clark served as the top assistant coach at Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas, a national powerhouse that has provided the Vols five-star point guard signee Kennedy Chandler.