Tennessee basketball coaches Desmond Oliver and Michael Schwartz are among the top six assistant coaches in the Southeastern Conference, according to a list published Friday by Stadium basketball insider Jeff Goodman.
The inclusion of Oliver and Schwartz made Tennessee the only program in the SEC to place multiple coaches on Goodman’s short list, which was constructed based on input from more than 20 coaches throughout the SEC.
Oliver has worked alongside Vols head coach Rick Barnes dating to Barnes’ hiring at Tennessee in 2015.
“Dez may be one of the hardest-working recruiters I’ve ever been around,” Barnes told Goodman. “He builds relationships, establishes trust and is relentlessly thorough in everything he does.”
Another SEC assistant coach said of Oliver, “Dez is a guy who has been at a bunch of different stops and has managed to find under-the-radar guys wherever he has been. I think he’s someone who should be a head coach soon.”
Schwartz has been on Tennessee’s staff since 2016 and also recently earned feature placement on The Athletic’s list of the nation’s top 25 up-and-coming college basketball coaches.
“Mike is one of the sharpest defensive minds in the game,” Barnes said. “He’s truly elite in that respect—head and shoulders above most of his peers.”
A fellow SEC assistant coach also weighed in on Schwartz, “Mike has been a professional in every stop along the way. He is a colleague that I respect for his on-the-court coaching and off-the-court recruiting.”
Over the last three seasons alone, Oliver and Schwartz have been instrumental in Tennessee attaining a No. 1 national ranking, winning an SEC Championship, making consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and developing three NBA Draft picks.
That duo—along with Vols assistant Kim English, another rising star in the profession—recently helped Barnes assemble a signing class that was rated fourth in the country. Those highly-touted newcomers bolster an experienced and balanced corps of returning Vols to form an exciting and explosive squad with lofty aspirations for the upcoming 2020-21 season.
To view Goodman’s full listing on WatchStadium.com, click HERE.
-UT Athletics
