Kentucky basketball: Is Tony Barbee on the hot seat?

Does the Kentucky basketball program need a shakeup on the coaching staff? Should Coach Cal replace Tony Barbee with a more proven and dynamic recruiter?

Duke has clearly been the most dominant force in NCAA recruiting during the last few years. Arizona, Kansas, UCLA and North Carolina aren’t far behind. Does the Kentucky basketball program need a shakeup on the coaching staff? Should Coach Cal replace Tony Barbee with a more proven and dynamic recruiter?

Perhaps you heard the buzz half-way through the season about potential UK coaching staff changes after the season. Due to poor recruiting performance, Tony Barbee could be on his way out at the conclusion of the season. While Barbee is the “mastermind” behind UK’s zone defense, it seems he’s quite the opposite on the recruiting trail.

John Calipari, Kenny Payne, and Joel Justus are the primary recruiters for the UK program. With the recent success of Duke, Arizona (bad example?) and others, Calipari needs to bring in a new assistant coach that serves as a legitimately consistent high level recruiter.

Potential replacements for Tony Barbee

The first name I heard mentioned was the return of Orlando Antigua. I would absolutely love this move! Antigua was seen sitting directly behind the UK bench last year in the NCAA Tournament. Because of this, speculation predicted Antigua’s return to the Kentucky basketball program. But Antigua ended up at the University of Illinois as an assistant to Brad Underwood.

Illinois is rumored to be in serious jeopardy of losing several players to transfer this off-season. If so, will Antigua jump ship and return to UK? Coach K partnership with Jeff Capel has proven to be a winning recipe for Duke in recruiting. Hold on though, the best recruiting staff in the entire nation would undoubtedly be Calipari, Payne, and Antigua together.

The second most consistently named replacement has been Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, currently coaching prep ball in Memphis. The legacy, NBA career and name popularity alone would make Penny a valuable high-level recruiter. There is even a reportedly great relationship between Calipari and Penny.

Hardaway has made public his desire to coach high level collegiate basketball as well. But here’s the problem, several reports have surfaced in the last 36 hours that predict Penny replacing Tubby Smith at Memphis. Now I have no idea whether Penny is ready to be a high level head coach right now or not, but there’s enough buzz that makes it seem likely. Some reports even mention Penny has already started putting together his coaching staff for Memphis – like it’s essentially a done deal at this point.

So who does that leave? Walter McCarty is currently in an assistant role with the Boston Celtics. There are recent reports claiming McCarty will become the next head coach at Eastern Kentucky University. Could he relish a couple years as an assistant to Calipari before becoming a collegiate head coach? His experience as a player and coach at the NBA level would make him a great presence on the recruiting trail.

A couple years ago, I attended Calipari’s Coaching Clinic at UK. One of his guest speakers that year was Bruiser Flint. Flint has held head coaching positions at Massachusetts and Drexel and is currently an assistant at Indiana. He and Calipari have a great relationship and Flint is very charismatic and personable. Could Coach Cal lure him away from IU and into the Bluegrass?

Maybe Barbee doesn’t even leave and continues his current position. But if he does, who does BBN want to see as his replacement?