Auburn hires a basketball coach

Hey everyone. It's 100% official -- Tony Barbee is now the head coach at Auburn.

Barbee, who coached under John Calipari at Memphis, ran the show at UTEP this past season and the three before that. The Miners qualified for the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team earlier this month before losing to Butler in the first round.

I had been hearing talk that Barbee was The Top Candidate at DePaul, which seems ripe for a revitalization. Chicago is a haven for prep hoops. Still, Barbee will be coaching on the Plains instead.

He went 82-51 in four seasons at UTEP. His team won 15 of its 16 Conference USA games this year and finished 26-6 overall.

``I’m very excited about the opportunity to join the Auburn Family and proud to be the next head coach at Auburn," Barbee said. ``We have challenges in front of us, but we also have great opportunities with everything Auburn has to offer—a great university, outstanding community, tremendous fan support, and a terrific new arena and practice facility. The time is now to take Auburn basketball to new heights."

BARBEE CAREER TIMELINE
UTEP, head coach (2006-2010)
Memphis, assistant (2000-06)
Massachusetts, assistant (1999-2000)
Wyoming, assistant (1998-99)
Massachusetts, assistant (1996-98)
Massachusetts, graduate assistant (1995-96)

**1993 graduate of Massachusetts

HIS TIME AT UTEP
2005-06 ... team went 21-10, 11-3 ... coach Doc Sadler left for Nebraska.
2006-07 ... team went 14-17, 6-10 ... Barbee's first season ... team returned three players.
2007-08 ... team went 19-14, 8-8
2008-09 ... team went 23-14, 10-6 ... made it to the CBI finals.
2009-10 ... team went 26-6, 15-1 ... qualified for NCAAs

More to come ...