05/02 at 12:53 AM

Tony Barbee knows he thrives as a speaker and has won over many rooms since he was named Auburn’s new basketball coach in March.

There is, however, one word he has a tough time saying without a bit of apprehension.

“’No’ right now is not in my vocabulary,” Barbee said. “If there’s a ‘no’ right now, it’s only because I can’t do two things at once. That’s the only reason. As much as I can get done in a day, I try to get done because we’ve got a lot of ground to make up.”

In between touring the state for speaking engagements and crossing the country on recruiting trips, Barbee opened up about 30 minutes of his busy schedule for an interview with Opelika-Auburn News Auburn beat writer Andrew Gribble. Here are some of the excerpts.

O-A News: What’s been the major difference between your first months at UTEP compared to your first months at Auburn?

Tony Barbee: The welcome, to me, to my family, to the staff, has been overwhelming. When you hear about the Auburn family, you really don’t grasp it until you’re a part of it. As I’ve been across the state recruiting and speaking, you really get a sense of what it means. There’s a passion for this university and there’s a passion for these athletic programs here. That’s different than any place I’ve been.

OAN: You’ve made a seemingly endless amount of appearances around the state for speaking engagements. Is that on purpose?

TB: If you think you can sit behind the desk and be successful at this job, then you don’t know what this job entails … That’s why to me it’s not a burden, it’s an honor to be able to go on the Tiger Prowl or speak at whatever local club you want to throw out. It’s an honor and privilege that people want you to speak there and that’s the way you have to look at it. That’s when people truly feel a connection to you and the program.

OAN: Do you consider public speaking one of your strengths?

TB: It’s always kind of come natural to me. You hear people that one of the biggest fears for anybody is public speaking. But for some reason, it’s never been one. I don’t really care what people think. I’m going to tell you what I think and move on … If you’re confident in what you’re selling, if you’re confident in what you’re speaking about, it’s an easy thing to do, in my mind.

OAN: What does your family think of your busy schedule?

TB: I’ve got a family (laughs)? It makes it tough. They’re always going to be my priority, but at the same time they understand this part of the job. With the kids still having about four or five weeks in the school year, it’s made it easier — it’s never easy — to be away from them. Because they’re back in El Paso it’s allowed me to focus on what to get done in terms of this office.

OAN: What have you applied here from the lessons you learned from your first few months at UTEP?

TB: The one thing you learn from your first experience as a head coach is that you’re never ready. No matter how much you think you’re prepared, until you move those 12 inches over from that seat where you’re making suggestions to that seat where you’re making all the decisions, you’re never ready until you experience that.

OAN: How would you describe the chemistry of you and your staff?

TB: It’s incredible. There’s a blueprint to the success I’ve had early in my career. It’s learned from my years with coach (John Calipari). If you’re in this business for you, you’re not in this very long. It’s got to be where you’re in this for everybody else. Cal, he develops his assistants to be head coaches and not just pigeon-holing guys into ‘That guy can just be a recruiter, this guy is just a basketball guy.’

The responsibility that I give these guys on my staff is the same that I had as an assistant. They all want their hands in everything because it’s going to prepare them for their opportunities. When I got this job, I all of a sudden had 1,000 new friends in this business that I didn’t know I had. They said to ‘Hire me because I can bring player XYZ.’ But that’s not what I’m about. Family is about loyalty and taking care of one another.

OAN: Have you had much time for the current players?

TB: There’s a balance to it. We’ve done a good job as a staff of keeping a hand and trying to build relationships with these guys … There’s a bridge that has to be built between the new staff and the players because the only way this thing works is if there’s a trust factor. That doesn’t come easy. We’ve got to earn their trust and I know that. But it’s got to go two ways. They’ve got to earn my trust as well.

Through the short period of time we’ve had here toward the end of the semester, we’ve tried to do that through being in the weight workouts with them, the individual work we’ve been able to do with them through the NCAA limitations. You build a bond through the teaching and then you try to cement it with the loving and the caring.

OAN: Have you watched any game film from last season?

TB: No. What happened here before doesn’t matter to me. It doesn’t matter.

OAN: Do the current players have a feeling things will be different under your watch?

TB: I’m a big believer in what you ask for is what you’ll get every single time. If you don’t ask for much, you’re not going to get much. That’s why I ask for a whole lot. From how they represent themselves on campus, how they represent themselves in the community, how hard we work on the floor, how hard we work in the weight room. All those things for me, I call that fun. What happens is when you get used to the success that comes from working that hard, it’s no longer hard work because you see the success that pays off from it.

OAN: Basketball recruiting, obviously, goes well beyond protecting the borders. What advantages, though, does the in-state school have on in-state talent?

TB: The biggest thing is what I tell kids. You have a priority list as a recruit in what you’re looking for. If everything you can get in a program is at home, you never leave. If there’s something missing that’s high up on your priority list, you’ve got to look elsewhere. I’m going to do my job to make kids understand that their dreams and their goals will be able to be reached here at Auburn University.

OAN: What’s your philosophy as you finalize this season’s schedule?

TB: You’ve got to schedule for where your program is, but at the same time of the vision of where you think you’re going. We’re still in that evaluation process to determine where we are before I start to finish out the schedule. When you’ve got a young team — and we’re still going to be a team of freshmen and sophomores next year — you don’t want to over-schedule with a team like that and have your confidence rattled early.

When you have a young team, you want to build confidence. You can do that in all areas; you can do it in the weight room, you can do it on the practice floor and you can do it in film sessions. But you can also do it in how you build your schedule. You can build confidence there or you can damage confidence.

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