When Rick Barnes was brought on to be Tennessee basketball’s head coach in 2015, he brought a familiar face with him.

That came in the form of assistant coach Rob Lanier, who was Barnes’ right-hand man for two seasons while at Texas. The two compiled a 49-18 record together, and that was enough for a phone call to Lanier when Barnes took the Tennessee job.

Now, the two are separated again — but faced each other on Monday in the Food City Center as leaders of their respective programs. Barnes is still the head coach at Tennessee, while Lanier led his Rice Owls to the court in Knoxville.

“When we think of Knoxville, it’s like a home to us,” Lanier said. “It was such a great experience for me. It was the best experience I’ve had in the profession is the four years I spent here by far the best experience that I’ve had to this point.”

His time with Tennessee started the resurgence of the program. Before Barnes had the Vols reaching back-to-back Elite Eight’s, he was drawing up plays in practice with Lanier to his side — learning how to build up a program 16-16 the year prior, firing its first-year head coach.

In the final two years with the Vols, Lanier and Barnes guided the program to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. It’s a feat accomplished for the first time since the 2010-11 years.

Before he left, Lanier experienced the beginning of the highs. Tennessee claimed a share of the SEC regular season crown in 2018, and that’s the memory he drew back to after Monday’s 91-66 loss to his former colleague.

“In 2018, we beat Georgia here to earn a share that night of the SEC title,” Lanier said. “And if you were here that night, you know, for the next 45 minutes to an hour, no one left the building. Best experience that I’ve had in college basketball that night. Just being there and seeing the fans not even leave the arena. Just an incredible place.”

Eventually, his time came to an end with Tennessee. On April 5, 2019, Lanier accepted a head coaching gig at Georgia State. That’s when he had to make his farewell to Knoxville, doing it with the purpose of ensuring he had a sentiment to look back on.

“I tweeted something back in 2019 when I was leaving — something to the effect of I don’t know what the criteria is to be a VFL, but I’m hoping that me and my family qualify,” Lanier said. “I did it on purpose cuz I wanted people to say good s— so I could go back and read it. And so whenever I was in a bad mood, I would just go and read the comments and all the nice things people were saying.”

And that’s just the type of connection he built with the people in Knoxville.

Though he’s entered three different head coaching jobs since the last time he was on a coaching staff with Barnes, he still thinks back on what he has accomplished with the legendary head coach.

“I admire him as much as you can admire another man,” Lanier said. “Like he’s as good a man as I know in my life. So I’m not surprised by how good they are, how hard they play, how tough they are, how they rebound. All of those things are a byproduct of who he is.”

“… I’ve just never been around a person who gets so much satisfaction out of doing nice things for other people,” Lanier said. “That’s who he is. And everybody that’s been in his orbit has a story along those lines. I’m just one of the many.”

For all the good things Lanier had to say about his return, Barnes echoed his respect for the coach who he gave multiple chances.

Typically, the pregame introductions for home games feature the listing of the starting lineups for both sides without the introduction of head coaches. But it went a little further on Monday. The public address announcer shifted the plan, announcing Barnes as the home coach, and Lanier as head coach of the Owls — garnering a cheer from the crowd.

“Rob Lanier is really one of the greatest blessings that God ever brought into my life,” Barnes said. “I love him to death. And I told (the players), I said these guys are going to come in and play hard. They’re going to be aggressive. They’re really well coached. That’s easy to see them do. They did some of the things that we thought really trying to get physical with their guards. And we knew they were going to hit the glass hard.

“And this when we scheduled this game a year ago, it was before he lost three starters to the portal. But I know this, if I were building a program, he’d be one of the first guys I call. And the success that we had at Texas and here to start with, he’s had so much to do with it. I love the guy to death. And it’s always hard when you play guys that you feel that emotionally tied in to. But I’m really proud of him. His teams, they never quit and they never will.

“And Rice is really lucky to have him. And I think he’s one of the most underrated coaches in college, the country.”

The two will go on their separate journeys this season. Tennessee is back in action on Nov. 20 against Tennessee State, while Rice hosts Tarleton State the same night.