Barnes Wins Henry Iba National Coach of the Year Award

Barnes Wins Henry Iba National Coach of the Year Award

Posted on March 25, 2019
Credit: UT Athletics

After leading the Volunteers to one of their best seasons in program history, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes was selected as the winner of the 2019 Henry Iba Award as National Coach of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association on Monday.

With a Hall of Fame-worthy résumé already, Barnes checked off another impressive accomplishment by bringing home his first-ever national coach of the year honor. The Hickory, N.C., native has been named a conference coach of the year on six occasions and the USBWA District Coach of the Year four times.

Barnes—who is also a finalist for Werner Ladder Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year—has guided the Volunteers to a 30-5 mark (his third career 30-win season). That includes a school-record 19-game win streak, a program-record-tying three victories over top-five opponents and the second-most victories in a single season in program history.

The Vols spent four weeks atop the Associated Press Top 25 Poll, and for the first time in program history, Tennessee spent the entire season ranked among the top 10. That play was rewarded with a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, tying the Big Orange’s highest seeding in program history.

Along with Barnes, a trio of Vols was also recognized for Tennessee’s season. Junior forward Grant Williams earned first-team All-America honors and was voted the SEC Player of the Year for the second season in a row, becoming the first player to repeat for the award since 1995-96. Senior wing Admiral Schofield garnered All-SEC first-team acclaim, while junior guard Jordan Bone was tabbed to the second team.

The Henry Iba Award will be presented to Barnes at the USBWA’s college basketball awards dinner in St. Louis on Monday, April 15, at the Missouri Athletic Club in downtown St. Louis along with the USBWA’s other postseason awards.

Iba was a Hall of Fame collegiate basketball coach and administrator who totaled 755 career wins and led Oklahoma A&M to consecutive national championships in 1945 and 1946. He also coached the United States men’s national team to Olympic gold in 1964 and 1968.

The USBWA was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With close to 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball and has selected an All-America team since the 1956-57 season.

 

UT Athletics

Blake Shelton Teases New Single, “God’s Country” [Listen]

Blake Shelton Teases New Single, “God’s Country” [Listen]

Posted on March 25, 2019

Blake Shelton will release a new single, “God’s Country,” on March 29.

The new tune will be the first sample of music from Blake’s upcoming 12th studio album.

Penned by Michael Hardy, Jordan Schmidt and Devin Dawson, “God’s Country” follows Blake’s previous Top 10 single, “Turnin’ Me On,” which was featured on his 2017 album, Texoma Shore.

“‘God’s Country’ is a song that has a strong and deep meaningful lyric, but at the same time it leaves it up to the listeners interpretation,” Blake said. “But no matter where you are from or where you’re standing it is my belief that you’re standing in God’s Country. It’s really about a state of mind. Wherever you’re from and how you feel about that place. For me it’s about being from Oklahoma—where I was born, raised and still live today.”

Blake shared a sample of the new tune via Twitter, which you can listen to below.

photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

Watch Carrie Underwood Surprise Luke Combs, Ashley McBryde & Lanco With ACM Awards

Watch Carrie Underwood Surprise Luke Combs, Ashley McBryde & Lanco With ACM Awards

Posted on March 25, 2019

The ACM Awards may be two weeks away, but the Academy is already handing out hardware.

Over the weekend, Carrie Underwood phoned Luke Combs, Ashley McBryde and Lanco to let them know they had won ACM Awards for New Artist of the Year in their respective categories.

Watch Carrie surprise Luke, Ashley and Lanco with the news.

The ACM Awards, which will be hosted by Reba McEntire, will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 7 at 8 p.m. ET. on CBS.

NEW FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Danielle Bradbery
Lindsay Ell
Ashley McBryde WINNER
Carly Pearce

NEW MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Jimmie Allen
Luke Combs WINNER
Jordan Davis
Michael Ray
Mitchell Tenpenny

NEW DUO OR GROUP OF THE YEAR
High Valley
LANCO WINNER
Runaway June

photos by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

Maddie & Tae to Release New 5-Song EP on April 26

Maddie & Tae to Release New 5-Song EP on April 26

Posted on March 25, 2019

Maddie Marlow and Tae Dye of Maddie & Tae will release a new EP, One Heart to Another, on April 26.

The five-song offering features lead single, “Friends Don’t,” which was released in 2018 and peaked at No. 33 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. Maddie & Tae co-penned four of the five tracks on the new EP.

“This is much more than just a new project for us,” says Maddie. “It has been our light at the end of tunnel for the past two years. It is about two best friends experiencing the highest of highs, the lowest of lows, and everything in between together. We hope our fans hear the vulnerability, heart break, strength, truth and passion we’ve poured into this. This is only the beginning.”

“The journey to create this project was long, but beautiful,” adds Tae. “We put our heads down and tried to be the best artists we could be. And to us that looked like writing lyrics from a very honest place and sharing them with the hopes that someone out in the world feels less alone. So here is One Heart to Another. From our hearts to yours.”

Maddie & Tae will hit the road as part of Carrie Underwood’s Cry Pretty Tour in May.

One Heart To Another Track List & Songwriters 
1. “Friends Don’t” (Maddie Marlow, Taylor Dye, Jon Nite, Justin Ebach)
2. “Die From A Broken Heart” (Maddie Marlow, Taylor Dye, Jonathan Singleton, Deric Ruttan)
3. “Tourist In This Town” (Maddie Marlow, Taylor Dye, Barry Dean, Jimmy Robbins)
4. “One Heart To Another” (Maddie Marlow, Taylor Dye, Jonathan Singleton, Deric Ruttan)
5. “New Dog Old Tricks” (Laura Veltz, Jesse Frasure, Emily Weisband)

photo by Curtis Hilbun, AFF-USA.com

Morgan Evans Announces Six-Date European Tour

Morgan Evans Announces Six-Date European Tour

Posted on March 25, 2019

Australia native Morgan Evans will spend some time in Europe this summer. Morgan will headline five dates in Ireland, Scotland, England and Germany, as well as a festival appearance in Lutterworth, U.K.

Tickets will be available on March 29.

Morgan Evans World Tour

Sept. 3 – Dublin, Ireland – Green Room at The Academy
Sept. 4 – Glasgow, Scotland – Oran Mor
Sept. 5 – Liverpool, U.K. – Arts Club Loft
Sept. 6 – London, U.K. – Borderline
Sept. 7 – Lutterworth, U.K. – The Long Road Festival
Sept. 9 – Berlin, Germany – Frannz Club

photo by NCD

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