I.J. Poole - Men's Basketball Coach - University of Tennessee Athletics

I.J. Poole

Title:
Assistant to the Head Coach

In April 2019, I.J. Poole returned for his second stint on Rick Barnes’ Tennessee staff. The 2019-20 season will be his first as assistant to the head coach. He previously was a graduate manager at UT from 2015-17.

This is Poole’s fifth overall year working with Barnes, as he also spent two seasons as a student manager at Texas.

Prior to returning to Tennessee, Poole worked for two seasons on the full-time staff at Appalachian State. In 2017-18, he handled budget management, daily scheduling and team travel as director of basketball operations. He then was promoted to assistant coach for the 2018-19 campaign.

During his tenure with the Longhorns program, Poole worked with a pair of NCAA Tournament teams, and Texas averaged 22 wins per season.

Poole has extensive experience as a basketball trainer, having provided skill and fitness instruction with Hoop Zone, Anderson Elite Camp and the Aaron Page Shooting Academy.

The former point guard earned All-District honors as a senior at L.C. Anderson High School in Austin and also was selected to participate in the 2011 Cen-Tex All-Star Game.

The Austin, Texas, native was the leading scorer on Tennessee’s 2015-16 manager team that ascended as high as No. 6 in the national KPI rankings and advanced to the Final Four in Houston.

Poole graduated from Texas in 2015 with a degree in Exercise Science and a minor in Biology.