The South Carolina Series

After dropping the first two games, the Tigers salvage a game today 10 to 6. Friday night Cory Luckie got clubbed giving up 8 runs in the first two innings and we never had a chance. Yesterday was excrusiating as we got 11 hits and left multiple runners on base losing 2 to 0 wasting a great pitching performance by Cole Nelson. Alabama is up next weekend.

Change in Attitude

Apparently what is striking about Coach Barbee is his attitude. He is said to be determined, ambitious, and confident. He said in his introductory press conference that he is not afraid to go after Kentucky. He said he will recruit the heck out of Alabama, the Southeast, and the country. Kevin Scarbinsky wrote that Coach Barbee showed more emotion and personality in his twenty-seven minutes press conference than Lebo showed in six years. Coach Barbee seems like someone who talks of championships and getting the best players.

Auburn Wins in Baseball

I am happy that Auburn won tonight against Alabama.

My Feelings

My pecking order was like this:

1) Tubby Smith. Apparently Tubby was not interested. If we could have gotten him, it would have been a no-brainer.
2) Mike Anderson. Apparently Anderson was not interested.
3) I think I would taken a chance on Chuck Person.
4) Of the others, Barbee would be my choice.

Our New Basketball Coach

Tony Barbee

Auburn Hires Tony Barbee

I do not know how this guy will do, but at least we know who the coach is. He is just 38. He comes from the John Calipari school, which is exciting, but who knows about this guy. He has coached for just four years.

Beating Samford

What fun it was on an early cool spring night to see Auburn beat Samford 10 to 3. It was 3 to 1 Auburn in the top of the third when I got there and the Tigers rolled from there.

I was hoping to see Hunter Morris do something but in the at bats I saw, he popped up to the first baseman, struck out, ground out to the first baseman, and walked.

Samford has a marvelous field. There is plenty of room along left field to stand and walk.

Tigers Sweep Georgia

The Tigers rip Georgia 19 to 3 to sweep the weekend series. Even if Georgia is down this year, it's amazing to see Auburn score 43 runs in a series. Hunter Morris has a career day going 5 for 6 with 2 home runs (including a grand slam) and 9 RBIs. I remember many seasons when Auburn struggled to score runs. It's incredible to see this kind of run production.

Beating Georgia Again

The Tigers beat Georgia 4 to 3. This time our relief pitching holds up as Auburn makes a 4 to 0 lead after batting in the top of the 6th hold up.

First Conference Game

Auburns opens the conference season beating Georgia 20 to 3. Cory Luckie has a good outing going 7 innings and giving up 2 runs. It's only one game.

Tubby?

Why not Tubby Smith? He's a proven winner. He would less of a chance than any of the other candidates being mentioned. I think he would be a good catch.

Auburn Candidates (according to Andrew Gribble of the O/A Daily News

Andrew Gribble
03/13 at 11:49 PM

There’s no freshly enforced probation, no lack of scholarships and no gray eyesore of a coliseum awaiting Auburn’s new head basketball coach.

The pay promises to be much better, too.

When athletic director Jay Jacobs starts to sit down with his potential candidates in the coming days and weeks, he won’t have to do nearly as much selling as Hal Baird did when he hired Jeff Lebo in 2004.

“I think it’s something that someone can look at and feel like they can recruit to,” women’s basketball coach Nell Fortner said. “It should be attractive to a large number of coaches.”

With that in mind, a number of potential candidates have emerged in the 36 or so hours since one of Auburn University’s highest-paid positions became vacant. Though none of the following names have been officially confirmed, it’s expected none of them will immediately hang up if/when Jacobs rings up their cell phone.

Mike Anderson
Age: 50

Birthplace: Birmingham

Alma mater: Tulsa

Current position: Head coach, Missouri.

Career record: 176-86 (Eight seasons; four at UAB, four at Missouri)

Career highlight: Missouri advanced to the Elite 8 last season, finishing 31-7. Anderson was one of 10 finalists for the Henry Iba Award, which is given to the best college basketball coach from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

Would he take it?: Anderson is a Birmingham native and a protégé of Nolan Richardson’s, so his ties to the SEC are strong. He was in the mix for the Auburn job last time it came open, but didn’t come to campus for an interview. He’s making $1.6 million per year and recently received a seven-year extension on his contract, making him the most expensive candidate at this point.

Tony Barbee
Age: 38

Birthplace: Indianapolis

Alma Mater: UMass

Current position: Head coach, UTEP

Career record: 79-49 (four seasons)

Career highlight: It’s happening right now. UTEP lost Saturday to Houston in the Conference USA title game, but the Miners are nationally ranked and set to return to the NCAA Tournament.

Would he take it?: Barbee, a former John Calipari assistant, has no ties to the South or the Southeastern conference. He is, however, making significantly less money at UTEP than he would at Auburn and wouldn’t be overwhelmed by a rebuilding project. One of the nation’s top-ranked recruiters when he coached alongside Calipari at Memphis, Barbee has stockpiled the Miners with some of the nation’s top talent.

John Brady
Age: 55

Birthplace: McComb, Miss.

Alma mater: Belhaven

Current position: Head coach, Arkansas State

Career record: 290-218 (19 seasons; six at Samford, 11 at LSU, two at Arkansas State)

Career highlight: In 2005-06, LSU started the season unranked, but advanced all the way to the Final Four thanks to the play of future NBA players Glen Davis and Tyrus Thomas.

Would he take it?: Brady spent the best years of his coaching career in the SEC West. The lure of spinning a 17-14 season in Jonesboro, Ark., to an SEC job with a brand new arena would appear to be overwhelming. Plus, it’s expected Auburn will pay Brady, who is still collecting buyout checks from LSU, more than the $100,000 per season he’s making now.

Mike Davis
Age: 49

Birthplace: Fayette

Alma mater: Alabama

Current position: Head coach, UAB

Career record: 198-126 (10 seasons; six at Indiana, four at UAB)

Career highlight: One year after replacing legend Bob Knight, Davis led the Hoosiers to an unexpected trip to the NCAA Finals in 2002.

Would he take it?: Davis might be looking for a fresh change of scenery after his fourth consecutive year at UAB without an NCAA Tournament berth. It also might be nice for him to play in a conference that consistently gets more than one team to the Big Dance every year. Davis, like Anderson, was also in the mix during Auburn’s previous search.

Frank Haith
Age: 44

Birthplace: Queens, N.Y.

Alma mater: Elon

Current position: Head coach, Miami

Career record: 108-86 (six seasons)

Career highlight: As a top assistant at Texas, Haith and the Longhorns advanced to the Final Four in the 2002-03 season.

Would he take it?: Haith is a New Yorker by birth and has no SEC ties. Because Miami is a private institution, his financial situation is unclear, though athletic director Kirby Hocutt recently extended his contract.

Johnny Jones
Age: 50

Birthplace: N/A

Alma mater: LSU

Current position: Head coach, North Texas

Career record: 150-120 (nine seasons)

Career highlight: Jones, in his sixth season, saw it all come together at North Texas, as he guided the Mean Green to their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1988 after capturing the Sun Belt Title.

Would he take it?: Jones is deeply entrenched in Denton and just recently received a raise and contract extension, locking him up with the Mean Green for the next six years. Still, Jones knows what it’s like to play in the SEC and would be getting a major pay bump to boot.

Sam Mitchell
Age: 46

Birthplace: Columbus, Ga.

Alma Mater: Mercer

Current position: N/A

Career record: 156-189 (five seasons with Toronto Raptors)

Career highlight: After leading the Raptors to their first division title in franchise history and bowing out of the first round of the NBA playoffs, Mitchell was named Coach of the Year in 2007.

Would he take it?: Mitchell has been off for a year, spending time in Atlanta with his family. An active member in the community and beloved in his hometown, he’s apparently open to the idea of returning to coaching, even if it is college.

Chuck Person
Age: 45

Birthplace: Brantley

Alma Mater: Auburn

Current position: Special assistant, Los Angeles Lakers

Career record: N/A

Career highlight: In college, it was when he became Auburn’s all-time leading scorer, a record that still stands today, even with the introduction of the 3-point line. In the pros, it might have been his overall longevity, as he lasted 15 seasons and played with five different teams.

Would he take it?: Person is currently on the path to, one day, become a head coach at the professional level. But when he talked with reporters Thursday, he hinted that an offer from a major program in a major conference would be tough to overlook.


YOU CAN FORGET MIKE DAVIS. IF AUBURN HIRES AN ALABAMA GUY I'M DONE WITH AUBURN BASKETBALL. JOHN BRADY HAD SOME GOOD TIMES AT LSU BUT HE ENDED UP GETTING FIRED, DIDN'T HE? BRADY WOULD BE THE SAFEST CHOICE BUT I WON'T LIKE IT.
THE UTEP GUY SOUNDS INTERESTING. MIKE ANDERSON WOULD BE GREAT. AS WOULD CHUCK PERSON AT LEAST INITIALLY.

OF COURSE IT COULD BE SOMEONE WHO IS NOT ON THIS LIST.

Lebo Begone

Everyone praised Lebo as a coach and as an honest person. But he is no more at Auburn.

Here are the primary faults with Lebo:

• His teams never shot free throws worth a lick, period.
• His teams shot too many three pointers. We were always among the worst in three point shooting in the league, to boot.
  
• His teams were always too short. This was the first year that a center got any significant playing time. In Lebo's first five years, there was basically no center.

You cannot win basketball games with these three conditions. Each one was present each of the six seasons under Lebo.

Why the Lebo staff refused to play or to sign a center will forever be a conundrum that I will never understand.

Right now, I do not care who Jacobs hires, but here is hoping for a coach that teaches his players not to shoot a three pointer every possession and that believes in signing players taller than 6'4'' and more than 185 lbs.

The End of Basketball Season

I am amazed the score wasn't worse. We lost by 9 to Florida 78 to 69 and Tay Waller did not score a single point. How did that happen?

A miserable season is finally over, done with, kaput. Good riddance.

Now the attention turns to Jeff Leb's job status. Since Jay Jacobs hasn't said a thing, I'm assuming Lebo will be fired. I'll be surprised if he isn't.

Who will be the next Auburn basketball coach? Probably somebody like Lebo that we've never heard of. John Brady, the former LSU and Samford coach, is at Arkansas State. He is the only SEC experienced coach that I know of who could be a candidate. I'd rather take a chance with somebody else. We shall see. We shall see SOON I hope.

I've Changed my Tune on Lebo

After the loss to Alabama with the all too frequent fade in the second half, I've changed my tune on Lebo. Barring an unexpected and miraculous run in the SEC tournament, I think it's time for Lebo to go.

Jay Jacobs makes the call. I will support him no matter what.

If Lebo is dismissed, the dicey candidate is Chuck Person, now an assistant with the L.A. Lakers. He's an Auburn legend, but he's never been a head coach. I hear that he can talk the talk, but whether he can walk the walk, who knows.

It's going to be interesting to see what Jay Jacobs does.

Jeff Lebo

OK. So we wait to see what happens with Jeff Lebo. We won't know anything until after the season is over. Presumably the season will end after the SEC tournament. I can't imagine we will win the SEC and I don't imagine we will be in the NIT. I find myself hoping that Lebo is retained. I understand the frustration when this is the best he can in his 6th season, yet there are perils in starting over with someone else (who?)I think he should have another year.

The Last Game at Beard-Eaves

I was there for the first one on January 11, 1969 as the Tigers waxed LSU and Pistol Pete 90 to 71 despite Maravich's 46 points. I was there tonight for the last one as the Tigers beat Mississippi State 89 to 80 in a track meet. The game surprised me because it was run and gun from the beginning. It was as if each team decided from the get-go that they were not going to play defense. Fortunately we shot the ball well.

It was a virtual sell-out. I could see only a few empty seats.

After the game the members of that 68-69 team were introduced. Wally Tinker, who made the first bucket in the coliseum, recreated his 7-foot jumper that started it all. It was electrifying. I only got to see Wally Tinker one year because he was a senior my freshman year, but I will always remember him because he was a hustler. He played all-out for 40 minutes.

I was glad to see that Joe Champi, the winningest coach ever at Beard-Eaves, was properly recognized. He put Auburn women's basketball on the map with 4 Final Four appearances.

I can't say I will greatly miss Beard-Eaves. I'm sure once I get inside the new arena that's what I'll be talking about from now on.

But it was fun tonight one last time.