Anthony Michael Barbee (born August 10, 1971) is an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach, who was most recently the head coach at the

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula of the United States, U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said t ...

. He was previously head coach at Auburn and

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the University of Texas Syste ...

. Barbee led UTEP to a

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

championship in 2010 and was named Conference USA Coach of the Year. Barbee played college basketball for

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

under

John Calipari John Vincent Calipari (; born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach at the Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball, University of Arkansas. He has been named Naismith College Coach of the Year three times (1996, 2 ...

, winning two

Atlantic 10 The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located mostly on the East Coast and Midwest of the ...

regular season and

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

championships in 1992 and 1993.

Early years

Barbee was born in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, and grew up as a fan of the nearby

Butler University Bulldogs The Butler Bulldogs are the sport, athletic teams that represent Butler University, located in Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana. The Bulldogs participate in 20 NCAA Division I College athletics, intercollegiate sports. After leaving the Horizo ...

. Butler recruited him to play for the team, but Barbee chose to play for Massachusetts instead. In his four years as a Minuteman, Barbee averaged double-figures in scoring every year. He finished with 1,643 career points. The

named him to the league Freshman Team in 1989–90, and the Second Team in 1990–91 and 1992–93. The Minutemen compiled a 91–39 () overall record during Barbee's four years, and advanced to two NITs and two NCAA Tournaments. He graduated in 1993 with a degree in Sports Management. After UMass, Barbee played professional basketball in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Assistant coaching

For the 1995–96 season, Barbee and former teammate

Derek Kellogg Derek William Kellogg (born June 20, 1973) is an American college basketball coach who currently serves as an assistant coach for Creighton. Kellogg previously served as head coach of the Massachusetts Minutemen, his alma mater, being named to t ...

returned to college basketball as a graduate assistant at UMass, helping as the Minutemen reached the Final Four for the first time in program history. After

moved to the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

and

Bruiser Flint James "Bruiser" Flint (born July 23, 1965) is an American men's college basketball coach, currently an assistant coach at Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball, Arkansas. He was most recently the head coach at Drexel University. Collegiate playin ...

was promoted to head coach, Barbee was also promoted to assistant coach, where he would work with the Minutemen for two additional seasons. Barbee spent the 1998–99 season as an assistant coach with

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

. He then returned to UMass for one more season, and then moved to Calipari's staff again, this time at Memphis, starting in the 2000–01 season, where he would establish a reputation as an excellent recruiter. Barbee spent six years with the Tigers, as the team compiled a 148–59 () record. In 2002, Barbee received a letter of reprimand from the University of Memphis for pushing an Arkansas player. J.J. Sullinger fell into the Tigers' bench and into Barbee during the second half of a game at The Pyramid. Barbee pushed Sullinger, an action replayed several times during throughout the game that Memphis ultimately lost. Barbee was also required to write apologies to Arkansas coach

Nolan Richardson Nolan Richardson Jr. (born December 27, 1941) is an American former basketball head coach best known for his tenure at the Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball, University of Arkansas, where he won the 1994 NCAA Division I men's basketball tourn ...

and J.J. Sullinger. Barbee reunited with Coach Calipari for the 2014–2015 season, this time at the University of Kentucky where he served as the Special Assistant to the Head Coach. In this role Barbee assisted in a multitude of roles, including game-plan preparation and practice plans. With Barbee’s help the Wildcats enjoyed one of the most storied seasons in program history, becoming the first team in NCAA history to begin a season 38–0 while claiming the SEC regular-season and tournament crowns, advancing to the program’s fourth Final Four in five seasons, and helping six players go in the NBA draft.

UTEP

Barbee was hired as the coach of the Miners on August 14, 2006, succeeding

Doc Sadler Kenneth Lee "Doc" Sadler (born June 12, 1960) is an American college basketball coach. He was the head men's basketball coach at the University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss), a position he held from 2014 through the 2018-19 season. Sadl ...

, who moved to coach

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

. Barbee was the first African-American head coach in UTEP men's basketball history. This was another milestone for the program, as their 1966 team, then known as Texas Western, became the first team with five African-American starters to win a title game, defeating

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

and their all-white team. Barbee spent four seasons in El Paso, and the Miners improved steadily each year. The 2009–10 season was the highlight during Barbee's tenure. The Miners made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five seasons. Their regular season conference title was the first since the 2003–04 season, when UTEP was a member of the WAC. Barbee was named the C-USA Coach of the Year, as well as the NABC District 11 Coach of the Year. The Miners went 82–52 () under Barbee's leadership.

Auburn

Barbee was named the head coach of the Auburn men's basketball team on March 24, 2010 and was formally introduced the following day in

Auburn Arena Neville Arena, formerly Auburn Arena also known as The Jungle, is a 9,121-seat multi-purpose arena in Auburn, Alabama, on the campus of Auburn University. Built in 2010 to replace Beard–Eaves–Memorial Coliseum, the $86 million facility is t ...

. Barbee became the first black head men's or women's basketball coach at Auburn. Barbee lost his first game as Auburn's head coach on November 12, 2010 to UNC Asheville in overtime 70–69. This was also the first men's basketball game played in Auburn Arena. Barbee did not get his first win at Auburn until the 4th game of his first season, beating

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the state's capital an ...

68–66. However, after this rough start, Barbee's first Auburn team managed to remain competitive in the SEC, so much so that his former coach

went as far as to say that Barbee should be considered for SEC Coach of the Year. Despite showing promise at the end of his first season, Barbee never had a winning season at Auburn. His best record came in the 2011–12 season when Auburn finished 15–16. Auburn then lost 16 of 17 SEC games during a stretch of the 2012–13 season under Barbee, and had yet another losing season in 2013–14. The Barbee era at Auburn was fraught with off the court issues. Following the 2011–12 season, Auburn point guard Varez Ward was arrested on charges of

point shaving In organized sports, point shaving is a type of match fixing where the perpetrators try to change the final score of a game without the intention of changing who wins. This is typically done by players colluding with gamblers to prevent a team fr ...

. This case was later dismissed when Ward went into a pre-trial diversion program and with full cooperation with the FBI, neither Auburn nor Ward were found guilty of any wrongdoing. Of the 21 players that Barbee signed while at Auburn, only 9 remained on his roster in his 4th season due to player dismissals and transfers. Barbee was fired on March 12, 2014, minutes after losing in the first round of the SEC tournament to

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

74–56. He finished with a cumulative record of 49–75 (.395), the lowest winning percentage of any Auburn head coach with more than a two-season tenure.

Central Michigan

On April 23, 2021, Barbee was announced as the next head coach of the Central Michigan Chippewas Men's Basketball team. Barbee took over following the firing of

Keno Davis Keno Emlen Davis (born March 10, 1972) an American basketball coach who worked last season as a college basketball color analyst, and as a college scouting consultant for the Indiana Pacers. He was most recently the men's basketball head coach at ...

, who served as head coach of the Chippewas for nine seasons. Barbee would take over a program that hadn't made an appearance in the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

since 2003. After four seasons and a 49–75 overall record, he was fired on April 3, 2025.

Head coaching record

Career statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 1989–90 , style="text-align:left;",

UMass The University of Massachusetts is the public university system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes six campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, a medical school in Worcester and a law school in Dartmouth ...

, 30 , , 26 , , 29.3 , , .405 , , .316 , , .809 , , 4.9 , , 1.2 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , 11.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1990–91 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 27 , , 29.5 , , .450 , , .236 , , .695 , , 4.2 , , 2.8 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , 15.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1991–92 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 34 , , 28.2 , , .425 , , .392 , , .663 , , 5.1 , , 2.5 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , 12.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1992–93 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 30.4 , , .403 , , .361 , , .763 , , 5.5 , , 2.4 , , .9 , , .5 , , 13.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 126 , , 118 , , 29.3 , , .422 , , .340 , , .726 , , 4.9 , , 2.2 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , 13.0

References

External links

Bio from Auburn Tigers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbee, Tony 1971 births Living people African-American basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Auburn Tigers men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball players from Indianapolis Central Michigan Chippewas men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Memphis Tigers men's basketball coaches UMass Minutemen basketball coaches UMass Minutemen basketball players UTEP Miners men's basketball coaches Wyoming Cowboys basketball coaches 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen Isenberg School of Management alumni