At a news conference, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes joked, “Sometimes I wonder if my guys bet on games” before quickly saying “scratch that.”
The 71-year-old began laughing shortly after making the comment, along with members of the press who can be heard in the background. Immediately afterwards, he said, “I shouldn’t say this, but you know… scratch that…” before putting his head in his hands.
“I just wonder what’s going on. I mean, because I know we’re too good players to do that…” He then apologized and said “I shouldn’t have said that…” The joke came as the coach was talking about some bad passes that had taken place.
It was a record by Rick Barnes
I asked him about the team’s increased focus and it ends with him talking about some questionable bad passes.
“Sometimes I wonder if my guys bet on games. » pic.twitter.com/1Q5Au3008b
– Paige Dauer (@PaigeDauerFDP) February 1, 2026
Tennessee coaches betting joke comes at time when organizations are grappling with betting woes
While the coach was only joking and the quote led to a light-hearted, laugh-filled moment during a press conference, the NCAA has been dealing with a number of betting scandals as of late.
Just a few weeks ago, a case was unsealed federal court in Philadelphia, where prosecutors alleged that 26 people were involved in a long-running scheme that included bribes related to sporting events, wire fraud, conspiracy and assisting others to commit the alleged crimes. However, these are just allegations.
In a statement, NCAA President Charlie Baker said, “Protecting the integrity of competitions is of the utmost importance to the NCAA. We are grateful to law enforcement who work to detect and combat integrity issues and game manipulation in college sports.”
Today’s news highlights issues in the sports betting ecosystem. We must protect our athletes and our games. pic.twitter.com/P9bKeORRqr
-Charlie Baker (@CharlieBakerMA) January 15, 2026
He also said that when he took over as president three years ago, one of the first things he did was step up the organization’s response to sports betting.
It was also only in November of last year that it was discovered that six basketball student-athletes had violated NCAA betting rulesleading to expulsion from their schools.
Featured Image: Screenshot of Paige Dauer X-rated video
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