By Jim Vertuno
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS - Little Ricky from Hickory is big time now. When Rick Barnes took over as coach at Texas five years ago, the program was in disarray under the threat of player lawsuits and defections.

He's done more than just unite the program. He's turned this one-time "football school," into a basketball power. The 'Horns are in the Final Four for the first time in 56 years.

"We've come a long way," the 48-year-old Barnes said.

So has he.

Barnes grew up poor in Hickory, N.C., a hardscrabble upbringing he still credits for shaping the values of hard work he stresses to his team.

He was known as something of a mischievous prankster. Friends love to tell the story of Barnes riding his bike naked down the highway to win a bet with his brother. But those same friends never let Little Ricky get too out of control. In turn, he became loyal to those who pushed him to be his best.

"I think I enjoy life. I like it when people smile," Barnes said. "I would not be where I was today if not for the good, caring people in Hickory who kept me out of trouble and got me on the right path."

Who knows where Texas would be without him?

The Longhorns had brief splashes on the national scene. "Tournament Tom" Penders took the 'Horns to the regional finals in 1990. Eight years later, the program was in disarray, swamped by scandal after one player's grades were released to the media and several more considered transferring.

Penders left and Texas hired Barnes, who had coached at Providence before going to Clemson. Barnes had led Clemson to three consecutive NCAA tournaments, including the round of 16 in '97.

"He was good in our league. It's when he got down to Clemson that he went nuts," said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who coached against Barnes for three years in the Big East and will face him again Saturday in the semifinals.

"He's done an unbelievable job everywhere he's been, but especially at Texas," Boeheim said.

Penders tried to talk Barnes out of taking the Texas job. It was a football school, where the bulk of the money and energy has long been devoted to the sport ingrained in the state culture.

Barnes, however, saw a flagship university with more than 50,000 students and a strong sports tradition surrounded by a deep pool of high-school talent.

Barnes asked to upgrade the Frank Erwin Center and for a new practice facility. Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds granted the requests, but also asked Barnes for patience. Dodds knew the Texas program needed nurturing and time. Plus, football coach Mack Brown was new to campus as well, and Texas being Texas, football came first.

"DeLoss was very open with me," Barnes said. "He said these guys have been through a lot."

On Barnes' first day on the job, conditioning coach Todd Wright set up a 6 a.m. practice with trash cans at the corners of the court.

"You're going to need these," Wright said before putting the team through running drills that left most bending over and coughing up their breakfasts.

It was the first taste of the Barnes credo: Have fun off the court, work like mad on it.

"He's going to push everyone to get better. He's not one to let anyone settle," said point guard T.J. Ford, who was in high school in Houston when Barnes arrived, but noticed the change in Austin.

Barnes' first team started 2-7 but rebounded to win the Big 12 regular-season title. That team earned the first of five straight NCAA tournament appearances.

"The patience ran out quick," Barnes said.

Next came recruiting. Brian Boddicker was the first McDonald's All-American to sign after Barnes went into high schools and living rooms talking like a Texas football coach.

"All he talked about was winning a national championship," Boddicker said.

Two years later, Barnes landed Ford, the biggest recruit to ever choose Texas.

The two have become close. They stood at midcourt during Friday's practice and laughed. Earlier, Ford told reporters how Barnes, as a joke, once squashed Ford's hand onto a plate of pancakes and strawberries.

Ford got his revenge by "borrowing" the coach's car and parking it somewhere on the vast UT campus.

"I got him back," Ford said. "He's going to be a comedian, pulling jokes to keep everyone loose."

Barnes has approached his first Final Four by trying to shift the focus from himself and onto his players. They should come first, he said.

"He's a players' coach," Ford said. And Barnes says that's exactly the way he wants it to be.