Jul 01, 2015 02:57 PM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Now the head men's basketball coach at Tennessee, Rick Barnes addressed the alleged academic violations his players committed when he was at Texas.

Speaking with reporters Monday, Barnes said he does not believe the investigator the school hired to examine the case will be able to find anything substantial. Barnes' comments on the matter are his first since the Chronicle of Higher Education released its in-depth report in June, the Associated Press reported.

"If you read the article, from my point of view, there's no legs to it," he said. "I think Texas has said everything that needed to be said. I'm sure they'll proceed with whatever they think they have to do there, but it was made clear that I had no involvement in it, which I knew. If I thought there was something, I would address [it]. [Because of] the fact it has no legs, I'm not really concerned about it."

Officials at the University of Texas and the school's athletic director, Steve Patterson, have stated Barnes was likely not involved in any academic misconduct his players allegedly committed and that his firing was unrelated, the AP noted.

Barnes helmed Texas' men's basketball team from 1998 to 2015 and was apparently let go for a lack of postseason success.

But the Chronicle released the investigative piece shortly after the NCAA released its latest Academic Progress Rate report, in which Texas' men's basketball team earned recognition. The article also came out shortly after Barnes' hiring at Tennessee.

"I guess if I would say anything, it would be that it's just disappointing why my picture was put there with it anyway," Barnes said. "If I did make a statement, it would have been that I hate for, [with] everything that's happened here at the University of Tennessee, for something like that to pop up. But from where I stand and where I sit and what I know and the people I'm close to back there, everyone says, 'Hey, you know there's nothing to it. There's no legs to it, so why get involved?'"

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