There has been a lot of interest and speculation on this board about Tony Barbee lately, pretty much ever since Tim Floyd stepped down. While I really doubt that he is returning to UTEP, I have decided to provide my own perspective of the former coach:
Many who don't want him to return say that he was aloof while he was here, making it apparent that he was just biding his time until he moved on to a bigger and better job. I have to agree that I received the same vibe from him. I personally don't mind that he took this job as a stepping stone. I want a coach that is hungry and looking to make a name for themselves; it brings an aggression that is helpful to the program. However, I do believe that if you want support from the community, it is a mistake to act like you are just biding your time here.
Rabadeaux, Gillispie, and Sadler all frequently talked about how lucky they were to be coaching a program with such tradition, and how fortunate they were to have a legend like Don Haskins available to them. They made sure that the public knew how frequently they talked to Coach Haskins. It was brilliant PR, and, picking the brains of a legend was brilliant as well.
Barbee didn't seem to embrace our history, and also didn't talk to Haskins like his predecessors did. It seems that he thought that there was nothing that he could learn from Haskins, as his new system was so different than what UTEP used to run. This was a mistake. It's obviously a mistake from a PR standpoint, as basketball fans in this town loved Haskins, but it was also a mistake for Barbee professionally. Despite the differences in style, at some level basketball is basketball, and no one locally knew more about basketball than Haskins. Additionally, Barbee could have picked Haskins' brain on how the Bear would have defended Barbee's offense, helping to prepare for what other teams might throw at the Miners.
I personally had an experience with his aforementioned aloof personality. I was enjoying lunch with my family in the PX food court on Bliss when Barbee and his team walked in. I immediately recognized everyone, and went over to meet the coach and team. Barbee was, at first, happy to meet me, then asked if I was going to be at the next home game that week. I had a commitment, and let him know that I would not be able to attend that particular game. He immediately turned around, cutting off the conversation, and went to talk to others, despite the fact that I was obviously a fan. I really wasn't offended, just shocked, but did give him credit for going out in public with the team and interacting with the community. Unfortunately he didn't do that enough.
I also saw a comment on this board that Barbee was only able to create a CBI team, and was lucky to land Caracter, who which allowed him his opportunity to go to the NCAA Tournament. This is completely ridiculous.
The team that Barbee inherited from Sadler had one great player, Stefon Jackson, one solid player, Marvin Kilgore, and almost no one else. Not surprisingly, Barbee couldn't win with this roster. He then brought in an amazing class, which included Randy Culpepper, Julyan, Stone, Gabe McCulley, and Claude Britten. Jackson and a bunch of freshmen were able to increase UTEP's win total from the year before and make the CBI. The next year saw the arrival of Arnett Moultrie, the team improved again, and made the finals of the CBI. It would be ridiculous to think that the team wouldn't have improved the following year, even if it they didn't have Caracter. They did, of course, add Caracter, which Barbee and his staff have to be given credit for, in addition to adding Jeremy Williams, Christian Polk, and Myron Strong. This would have been a very good class even without Caracter; with Caracter, it was a fantastic recruiting class. They, of course, improved again over the previous year, won the conference regular season title, and received an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
I will return to the idea of Barbee being "lucky": during his tenure here he recruited three players that played some time in the NBA (Caracter, Stone, and Moultrie), recruited our second leading all time scorer (Culpepper), and several other players that were solid to really good college basketball players (i.e. McCulley, Polk, and Britten). He is easily the best recruiter that we've had at UTEP in the post Haskins era.
I believe that Barbee's teams have a reputation for being really good on offense but really porous on defense. I also believe that the latter belief has a basis in truth. During Barbee's first three years his teams would often have bad lapses on defense. After the team would have a particularly poor defensive game Barbee would tell Teicher that during practices that week he was going to run his "perfect stop" drill. The next game the Miners would typically play fairly well defensively, but would gradually return to their poor defensive play over the next several games, causing Barbee to pull out his perfect stop drill again. My friend TenaciousD asked on this board why this drill wasn't run at every single practice.
The young coach seemed to finally learn that lesson his fourth and final year at UTEP. His CUSA championship team was a fantastic defensive team, allowing them to run off 16 straight wins. That team was not only talented, they played very well together - at least until the second half of the NCAA Tournament game against Butler. Their success that season had nothing to do with luck.
There is another statement that I have read on here that isn't quite true, that states that Barbee, unlike Floyd, was able to keep all of his recruits. Does anyone else remember that the star of Barbee's first full class wasn't supposed to be Culpepper, Stone, McCulley, Britten, or Portalin? The most heralded recruit in that particular class was Manuel Cass. He was released from the team after 13 games, none of which he started, for disciplinary reasons. The next season we welcomed two top notch recruits from the Memphis area: big man Moultrie and guard Jason Jones. Jones showed promise, but decided to transfer after his freshman year, a move that I understand really disappointed Barbee. There is also the case of Marcus Ruppel. His tenure made Cass seem like a four year letterman, as the sharp shooter was kicked off the team after playing in only one game. Still, the basic idea behind the above statement stands: Barbee had much less of a problem with player turnover at UTEP than did Floyd.
I've seen it said here that if Barbee had stayed one more season that we would have been able to retain both Caracter and Moultrie. I believe that this is true for Moultrie, but I believe that Caracter planned to use his junior year at UTEP to rehabilitate his image, and then go pro, no matter whom was head coach. Floyd's running off of Moultrie ended up being a huge mistake. As a junior Moultrie averaged 16.4 ppg and 10.5 rpg, making first team all conference. Unfortunately it was for Mississippi State, not UTEP.
One final note: I've seen it said that Barbee left the cupboard bare for Floyd. It is true that Floyd inherited a team comprised mostly of seniors, when a team with staggered classes would a been an easier foundation on which to build a program. Still, Barbee left Floyd with the most talented team the latter would ever have at UTEP, and the only one to come close to making the NCAA Tournament. And it doesn't take 8 seasons to overcome losing a large class to graduation.
Many who don't want him to return say that he was aloof while he was here, making it apparent that he was just biding his time until he moved on to a bigger and better job. I have to agree that I received the same vibe from him. I personally don't mind that he took this job as a stepping stone. I want a coach that is hungry and looking to make a name for themselves; it brings an aggression that is helpful to the program. However, I do believe that if you want support from the community, it is a mistake to act like you are just biding your time here.
Rabadeaux, Gillispie, and Sadler all frequently talked about how lucky they were to be coaching a program with such tradition, and how fortunate they were to have a legend like Don Haskins available to them. They made sure that the public knew how frequently they talked to Coach Haskins. It was brilliant PR, and, picking the brains of a legend was brilliant as well.
Barbee didn't seem to embrace our history, and also didn't talk to Haskins like his predecessors did. It seems that he thought that there was nothing that he could learn from Haskins, as his new system was so different than what UTEP used to run. This was a mistake. It's obviously a mistake from a PR standpoint, as basketball fans in this town loved Haskins, but it was also a mistake for Barbee professionally. Despite the differences in style, at some level basketball is basketball, and no one locally knew more about basketball than Haskins. Additionally, Barbee could have picked Haskins' brain on how the Bear would have defended Barbee's offense, helping to prepare for what other teams might throw at the Miners.
I personally had an experience with his aforementioned aloof personality. I was enjoying lunch with my family in the PX food court on Bliss when Barbee and his team walked in. I immediately recognized everyone, and went over to meet the coach and team. Barbee was, at first, happy to meet me, then asked if I was going to be at the next home game that week. I had a commitment, and let him know that I would not be able to attend that particular game. He immediately turned around, cutting off the conversation, and went to talk to others, despite the fact that I was obviously a fan. I really wasn't offended, just shocked, but did give him credit for going out in public with the team and interacting with the community. Unfortunately he didn't do that enough.
I also saw a comment on this board that Barbee was only able to create a CBI team, and was lucky to land Caracter, who which allowed him his opportunity to go to the NCAA Tournament. This is completely ridiculous.
The team that Barbee inherited from Sadler had one great player, Stefon Jackson, one solid player, Marvin Kilgore, and almost no one else. Not surprisingly, Barbee couldn't win with this roster. He then brought in an amazing class, which included Randy Culpepper, Julyan, Stone, Gabe McCulley, and Claude Britten. Jackson and a bunch of freshmen were able to increase UTEP's win total from the year before and make the CBI. The next year saw the arrival of Arnett Moultrie, the team improved again, and made the finals of the CBI. It would be ridiculous to think that the team wouldn't have improved the following year, even if it they didn't have Caracter. They did, of course, add Caracter, which Barbee and his staff have to be given credit for, in addition to adding Jeremy Williams, Christian Polk, and Myron Strong. This would have been a very good class even without Caracter; with Caracter, it was a fantastic recruiting class. They, of course, improved again over the previous year, won the conference regular season title, and received an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
I will return to the idea of Barbee being "lucky": during his tenure here he recruited three players that played some time in the NBA (Caracter, Stone, and Moultrie), recruited our second leading all time scorer (Culpepper), and several other players that were solid to really good college basketball players (i.e. McCulley, Polk, and Britten). He is easily the best recruiter that we've had at UTEP in the post Haskins era.
I believe that Barbee's teams have a reputation for being really good on offense but really porous on defense. I also believe that the latter belief has a basis in truth. During Barbee's first three years his teams would often have bad lapses on defense. After the team would have a particularly poor defensive game Barbee would tell Teicher that during practices that week he was going to run his "perfect stop" drill. The next game the Miners would typically play fairly well defensively, but would gradually return to their poor defensive play over the next several games, causing Barbee to pull out his perfect stop drill again. My friend TenaciousD asked on this board why this drill wasn't run at every single practice.
The young coach seemed to finally learn that lesson his fourth and final year at UTEP. His CUSA championship team was a fantastic defensive team, allowing them to run off 16 straight wins. That team was not only talented, they played very well together - at least until the second half of the NCAA Tournament game against Butler. Their success that season had nothing to do with luck.
There is another statement that I have read on here that isn't quite true, that states that Barbee, unlike Floyd, was able to keep all of his recruits. Does anyone else remember that the star of Barbee's first full class wasn't supposed to be Culpepper, Stone, McCulley, Britten, or Portalin? The most heralded recruit in that particular class was Manuel Cass. He was released from the team after 13 games, none of which he started, for disciplinary reasons. The next season we welcomed two top notch recruits from the Memphis area: big man Moultrie and guard Jason Jones. Jones showed promise, but decided to transfer after his freshman year, a move that I understand really disappointed Barbee. There is also the case of Marcus Ruppel. His tenure made Cass seem like a four year letterman, as the sharp shooter was kicked off the team after playing in only one game. Still, the basic idea behind the above statement stands: Barbee had much less of a problem with player turnover at UTEP than did Floyd.
I've seen it said here that if Barbee had stayed one more season that we would have been able to retain both Caracter and Moultrie. I believe that this is true for Moultrie, but I believe that Caracter planned to use his junior year at UTEP to rehabilitate his image, and then go pro, no matter whom was head coach. Floyd's running off of Moultrie ended up being a huge mistake. As a junior Moultrie averaged 16.4 ppg and 10.5 rpg, making first team all conference. Unfortunately it was for Mississippi State, not UTEP.
One final note: I've seen it said that Barbee left the cupboard bare for Floyd. It is true that Floyd inherited a team comprised mostly of seniors, when a team with staggered classes would a been an easier foundation on which to build a program. Still, Barbee left Floyd with the most talented team the latter would ever have at UTEP, and the only one to come close to making the NCAA Tournament. And it doesn't take 8 seasons to overcome losing a large class to graduation.
