That was just an excuse, you gotta remember that he came in right after a 3 year run of NCAA-NCAA-NIT. He had a losing record and finished 10th in CUSA that year, not exactly a great start. THEN, you add in the fact that he had all the banners condensed and pissed off all the old timers. How is Terry’s attitude towards the EP community any different? I haven’t seen one thing Terry has done outside of the basketball court.
Agree. I also think part of the issue initially with Barbee on the part of some was his perceived reluctance to embrace Haskins as a mentor, as other UTEP coaches had before him. I'm not sure if the assumption was accurate, but the perception of it impacted Barbee's acceptance early. But like you mentioned, the winning that came soon after, was enough for those to put that all aside.
NoWins is correct about Barbee's first year. I remember hearing complaints that year about how Barbee sucked, posting a losing record after we had made three straight postseason tournaments. I had to point out that Williams, Tofi, Ayala, and Moreno were gone, and that, with the exception of Jackson, Sadler had left the cupboard pretty bare. Kilgore was decent, but trading Williams and Tofi for Sampson and Ramalho isn't a fair swap. Still, casual fans only look at results, and don't pay attention to silly things like rosters.
Another issue is the perception that he didn't embrace UTEP's history, especially Haskins. The three previous coaches were constantly praising Haskins and mentioned every cup of coffee they had with him. According to a poster here who said he was friends with Barbee, Barbee met with Haskins regularly. If this is true, Barbee did a poor job of marketing this fact. It wasn't part of his job to do so, but it would have endeared himself more to the community.
Barbee also just never seemed to like El Paso. Whether this perception was real or not, it did come across to many that way. Again, marketing isn't part of the job, but a guy as smart as Barbee should have realized how much it could help his acceptance in the community. Terry, by contrast, couldn't stop gushing about how much he loved Texas, El Paso, and UTEP when he first came here. I don't know if he's done much since, but he did show that initial enthusiasm.
Finally, Barbee ran a team much differently than Haskins did. Old timers weren't impressed. Also, his first three teams were up and down defensively, while defense is something UTEP fans like to hang their hats on. His fourth and final team was a fantastic defensive team, which isn't something that everyone remembers.
As others have said, winning does cure all, and by the time he left, most, though not all, were sad to see him go. That is until Floyd was hired, which most, myself included, thought was a slam dunk hire. Man, were we wrong.
The best thing about Barbee was the fact that his teams improved every year that he was here. If you were paying attention, that improvement was expected each year. This is not something that has happened under Terry, and I have no expectations that we will be any better next season.