Tennessee assistant coach Rob Lanier named head coach at Georgia State

We came into this offseason prepared to talk about the potential departures of point guard Jordan Bone and power forward Grant Williams to the NBA, but not necessarily about coaches.

Today, Tennessee has lost Rick Barnes’ right hand man to Georgia State. Rob Lanier, who served as the Associate Head Coach under Barnes, has accepted the head coaching job with the Panthers.

Lanier, 50, has been with Barnes since his time at Texas. He joined Barnes in Austin in 1999, before leaving to become the head coach at Siena in 2001. After four years there, Lanier became an assistant at Virginia, then Florida before joining Barnes back at Texas. He then followed him to Knoxville, where he’s served as an assistant since 2015.

Lanier held a 58-70 record as a head coach at Siena.

Georgia State has made the NCAA Tournament in two straight seasons. Lanier will follow Ron Hunter, who left for Tulane 12 days ago. The Panthers went 24-10 this year, winning the Sun Belt before losing to Houston in the first round of the big dance.