Barnes Lands Job Sooner Rather Than Later

NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma men's basketball head coach Jeff Capel completed his staff today by announcing the hiring of former Division I head coaches Rod Barnes and Ben Betts.

"I've always had a lot of respect for Coach Barnes. When I was at VCU I had the opportunity to coach against him and his teams were always very good defensively. They got after you, they were tough, they were disciplined and they played with passion. I respected the way his teams played. I feel like this is a great hire for OU."

Said Barnes, "My family and I feel really blessed that I have this opportunity to coach at the University of Oklahoma and to work with Coach Capel. I coached against him on several occasions and I've felt that he's been one of the bright, up-and-coming coaches in the business. I'm anxious to get to OU, to help him, to help the university and to help the young men that we'll be working with to build one of the best programs in the country."