Vosburg: Davis out, Barbee in, but will it work


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Just like in April 2012, CMU men's basketball has changed head coaches.

Keno Davis was fired on April 5, and Tony Barbee was named his replacement 18 days later. While I was left somewhat surprised of the departure of Davis, a 6-17 finish with a 3-13 record in MAC play and enduring two brutal losses speaks for itself and proved to be the fatal blow to the Keno Davis era.

The Barbee era has started for CMU, and his resume speaks for itself, wooing athletic director Amy Folan. 

Barbee is a former player and longtime assistant of current Kentucky head coach John Calipari. Barbee spent four years as the head coach of the University of Texas-El Paso from 2006-2010 and took his coaching expertise to Auburn four four seasons before finding his way back to Calipari's staff for the start of the 2014-15 season, where he was promoted to the role of associated head coach this season.

With over 25 years of coaching under his belt and being labeled as an 'elite recruiter' by Folan, Barbee appears to be the breathe of much needed fresh air the men's basketball program needs. However, skepticism still remains on Folan's first coaching hire at CMU.

Barbee finished with an 82-52 record and a 39-25 Conference USA record in four seasons at UTEP. The Miners win total increased every season, earning 14 wins in 2006-07 to 26 in 2009-10 which included a 15-1 conference record and an appearance into the 2010 NCAA Tournament, losing 77-59 to eventual national runner-up Butler in the first round. 

He found success at a non-power five program, taking the program to new heights every season before cannonballing into a newer and deeper pool. 

Barbee moved on to become the head coach at Auburn, playing in the same conference as his mentor Calipari once again. His time with the Tigers was not the same as his run in UTEP, finishing 49-75 overall and a Southeastern Conference record of a dismal 18-50.

He spent the next seven seasons as an assistant with Kentucky, aiding the Wildcats to a 187-56 overall record and an SEC mark of 95-30 with four SEC regular season and tournament tiles, four sweet 16's, three Elite Eight's and a Final Four appearance. He helped develop and/or recruit current NBA players Karl Anthony-Towns, Devin Booker, Jamal Murray, De'Aaron Fox, Malik Monk, Bam Adebayo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyler Herro.

Obviously Barbee's move from UTEP to Auburn was not a success, but his resume appears to be similar to CMU football coach Jim McElwain. Both have worked under arguably the best and most intense collegiate coaches in the past 20 years, found success at the mid-major levels and later moved on to the SEC, where their former fan bases have little to no respect for either man for whatever reason that they have concocted in their minds. 

During his introductory press conference on April 23, Barbee made his first pitch to the fan base. No one will outwork him or his staff, and CMU is long overdue for a successful men's basketball program. He believes in the administration and wants to build a team for the student body.

After a week to digest the new hire I officially give my endorsement for the Barbee hire. 

There's not a single doubt in my mind that Barbee can find success at CMU. I believe that given a few years the Chippewas can become consistently competitive in the MAC once again.

However, we're taking about a program that's gone 497-712 overall and 250-461 in the MAC since a gallon of gas was $.90, Van Halen released Van Halen II and we were a year away from learning that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father. 

It's been that long.

This process will take a while. Any positive results year one will be a blessing in disguise. While some of the talent that remains began to find their stride at the end of last season, CMU loses it's top two scorers on a team that won six games.

A finish inside the top eight of the MAC would be considered a major win for the program. Anyone who believes that this team can win a MAC title out of the game is sadly misguided, because this rebuild will take time. 

I believe Barbee can turn this program around, but when CMU will once again be consistently competitive will be TBD until further notice. 



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