Barbee wanted to be liked. He really tried but El Paso never embraced him. I thing the main problem is that he wasnt from the Haskins school of basketball. He came in and introduced the dribble drive offense and up tempo pace which was a 180° change of philosophy for UTEP hoops. Then there was the apparent disdain that Haskins had for Callipari. Many of the fans especially the older fans resented Barbee because he was from the Calipari coaching tree. Many never gave Barbee a chance. Unlike the coaches before him Barbee had swag. He always coached in tailormade suits and never looked dishuveled, people didnt like that. During his years Barbee bought thousands of tickets with his own money and distributed them. He was very active in the community. He inherited the worst situation of the coaches since Haskins and built the best team of the last twenty years. After the last six years I appreciate what Barbee did even more. I cringed when the crowd booed his video. The optics of the crowd booing the only african American coach in UTEP history were terrible.
