If you haven’t heard by now, a soon-to-be-released ESPN the magazine article caused a stir when it quoted Texas men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes as saying he values putting his student-athletes through to the NBA more than he values winning NCAA championships.

“We would love to win a national championship, but we’re not obsessed with it because we’re obsessed with these guys trying to live their NBA dream,” Barnes said in the ESPN article. “What’s happened to Kevin Durant, LaMarcus Aldridge, T.J. Ford — I’d give up a national title for all of our guys to be able to live their dream.”

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The comment didn’t sit too well with many Longhorns fans posting on the Web.

To those livid individuals waving their Fire Barnes flags in disgust: Sit down, take a deep breath and listen to The Eagles for a few minutes. Take It Easy.

To think Barnes doesn’t want to win NCAA titles is ludicrous. As the longest-tenured current Big 12 coach (since 1998-1999), he’s tasted the NCAA Tournament in every season he’s been in Austin, Texas.

I realize the quote didn’t sound great. It likely won’t be read at any Texas awards banquets any time soon.

But what’s wrong with Barnes being concerned about the welfare and future of his players? He isn’t saying he doesn’t care about national titles (“We would love to win a national championship”). Barnes would just rather have his players succeed in the real world after college (“I’d give up a national title for all of our guys to be able to live their dream”). Doesn’t sound too bad to me.

Austin American Statesman columnist Kirk Bohls, who covers Texas, said Barnes’ comment in ESPN was blown out of proportion.

“That’s a huge misinterpretation,” Bohls said. “There’s no reason those two goals (NCAA title, players moving on to NBA) should be mutually exclusive. Barnes is as decent, honorable and compassionate a coach as I’ve been around, but he also knows fans care more about banners than bonuses in the NBA. And should. But Barnes meant to say he cares more about his players’ futures and welfare than his own ego and national championship opportunities.”

ESPN college hoops analyst Jay Bilas had this to say:

“Coaches will often downplay the importance of winning the title, until they actually win it,” Bilas said. “Does anyone recall Roy Williams downplaying the importance of winning the title until he won his first in 2005?”

Barnes just needs to work on his delivery. He should take a tip from UT football coach Mack Brown. In one of my previous Conference Chatter blogs on memorable locker room speeches, Brown had these words to say to his team after beating USC for the BCS Championship in the 2005 season:

“And the last thing, and I said this at the first of the week,” Brown said. “I don’t want this to be the best thing that’s ever happened in your life. When you’re 54, I don’t want you to say winning a football game is the best thing that’s ever happened in my life.

“You’ll have it and you’ll be a champion for the rest of your life. You make sure that’s one of the best sports things in your life. But you promise me you got enough about you to win a national championship, you got enough about you to be a great citizen and a great role model, a great father and a great leader in your family. And that’s what we’re looking for when you get outta here. That’s what we want.”

What Barnes wanted to say was probably something similar to what Brown told his players. Brown clearly was putting an emphasis on his players’ futures. The intent is pretty similar. Brown just conveyed his message more effectively.

That should be all for now. As always, discuss.