Auburn coach Tony Barbee said Tuesday he expects his contract issues to be resolved “rather soon.”

Barbee, who has been working under a letter of agreement since he was hired to head the Tigers men’s basketball program last March, couldn’t put an exact date on when his contract would be signed, but he said he expected it to be resolved “in the next seven to 10 days.”

“There’s no major roadblocks,” Barbee said. “I’ve made it be known I had no interest in negotiating my contract through the season. I wanted my focus to be solely on this team and making sure we were competing at a high level. And it wasn’t just the season, it was the season and spring recruiting, which should end (Wednesday).

“Once that ends, and I can put my full attention and focus on that.”

Barbee, who came from UTEP, led the Tigers to an 11-20 record with a 4-12 mark in the SEC in his first year at the helm, exceeding the expectations of most by finishing out of the basement in the SEC West.

The letter of agreement Barbee has been working under provides a base salary of $1.5 million for six year.

Jeff Lebo, Barbee’s predecessor with the Tigers, worked under a letter of agreement for nearly a year after being hired in April 2004 before signing his contract.

“It’s in the lawyer’s hands right now, and I haven’t seen the latest version,“ Barbee said. “But from the feedback I’ve gotten, it’s very positive.”

For now, Barbee said, his focus is squarely on continuing to build “the foundation” he set for his team in the first year.

That foundation will include some roster turnover before next season.

Auburn had 12 scholarship players on roster last year, and, with signees Willy Kouassi, Cedrick McAfee and Bernard Morena coming in, the Tigers will have to shed at least two players to meet the limit of 13 scholarship players.

Barbee said the Tigers’ three signees haven’t made through the NCAA Clearinghouse and are not eligible to join the team yet, but he expects all three to qualify.

And Auburn’s not done recruiting yet.

Barbee said the Tigers are still searching for players to add to their signing class. They’re in the running for Butler (Huntsville) High guard Trevor Lacey, this year’s Mr. Basketball in the state of Alabama who will decide between Alabama, Auburn, Kansas and Kentucky on Wednesday.

The Auburn coach said no decisions on roster moves concerning his current players have been made yet.

“Obviously, there’s going to have to be some,” Barbee said. “You’ve got players that become unhappy with coaches and coaches who become unhappy with players, so there is attrition at programs all across the country. Not just ours. So I expect that there’s going to be some movement, but right now I haven’t determined who that’s going to be.”

Two of Auburn’s players that were limited last year due to injury have made some strides during the spring, Barbee said.

Guards Frankie Sullivan, who tore his ACL last summer and came back for six games during the year, only to be shelved when he re-aggravated the injury, and Varez Ward, who transferred from Texas last year but sat out the season quadriceps and knee issues,  have both been impressive in their recoveries.

“(I’m) excited, but at the same time I’m going to be guarded with the expectations we put on (Ward),” Barbee said. “He started to get his explosiveness back in the spring. He’s always been a guy that relies on his defensive abilities to shut people out. He’s showed that again because his quickness was back in the spring.

“Now, physically, when you look at him, he’s a man on the floor.”

As Barbee and the coaches leave the players on their own for the summer — they can’t hold official workouts due to NCAA rules —
Barbee is confident he’s seen a marked change in his team from his first year with the Tigers.

He can chart the change in his team’s “competitive fire” by the amount of pick-up game dust-ups he hears about.

“(The games) changed from just kind of getting together for a pick-up game last spring to now hearing there were some split lips and bloody noses and black eyes coming out of pick-up games,” Barbee said. “That was the foundation I talked about laying this year. We laid that foundation, now we’ve got to continue to grow it.”