The Auburn basketball schedule is out. At least the SEC portion of it, anyway.

The Tigers, which have yet to officially confirm the entire 2010-2011 schedule, will open the conference season against LSU at home on Jan. 8.

All 16 of the Tigers’ SEC games will be on some kind of television. Only two of Auburn’s games will be aired on ESPN/ESPN2, while the rest will either air on Fox Sports Net, ESPNU, CSS or SEC Network affiliates.

The rest of Auburn’s schedule has yet to be finalized, but some games have been announced by opponents on those school’s websites.

Auburn will likely open the brand new Auburn Arena against UNC-Asheville on Nov. 12.

Auburn will serve as the host to the “Global Sports Hoops Showcase,” which will run from Nov. 19-21. The four-team tournament will pit the Tigers against Samford, Campbell and Middle Tennessee State.

The Tigers will face Rutgers in Pittsburgh on Dec. 11 as part of the SEC/Big East event.

Auburn will also host Georgia Southern on Dec. 29.

Jan. 8 LSU, 5 p.m. — FSN
Jan. 11 at Kentucky, 6 p.m. — ESPNU
Jan. 16 Mississippi State, 1 p.m. — FSN
Jan. 20 Florida, 6 p.m. — ESPN or ESPN2
Jan. 22 Alabama,  5 p.m. — CSS
Jan. 25 at Arkansas, 8 p.m. — ESPNU
Jan. 29 at South Carolina, 12:30 p.m. — SEC Network
Feb. 3 Tennessee,  8 p.m. — ESPN or ESPN2
Feb. 5 Georgia, 12:30 p.m. — SEC Network
Feb. 12 at Auburn, 7 p.m. — FSN
Feb. 16 at Ole Miss, 7 p.m. — SEC Network
Feb. 19 Vanderbilt, 3 p.m. — SEC Network
Feb. 23 at Alabama, 7 p.m. — SEC Network
Feb. 26 Arkansas, 12:30 p.m. — SEC Network
March 2 Ole Miss, 7 p.m. — SEC Network
March 5 at LSU, 6 p.m. — FSN

Barbee does it again, welcome Chris Denson

Add another one to Tony Barbee’s first signing class.

Tuesday morning, Shaw (Columbus, Ga.) High point guard Chris Denson inked with the Tigers, according to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

Denson, at 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, averaged 27 points per game as a senior, while racking up six assists, five rebounds and three steals per game, according to AuburnSports.com.

Three players have now signed on to play under Barbee in his first year on the Plains — Denson, swingman Josh Langford and forward Luke Cothron.
Langford, at 6-7, 203, out of Lee High School in Huntsville, was rated the top recruit in the state after finishing his senior season averaging 22 points and 13 rebounds per game.

Cothron, at 6-foot-9 and 218 pounds, averaged 31 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks per game as a senior last year for Flora Macdonald Academy in Red Springs, N.C. 

In a recent interview with the Opelika-Auburn News, Barbee talked about his recruiting philosophy, going after the best players, near and far.

“Auburn is a program that should be recruiting nationally, but there are good enough players in our backyard and in the Southeast to build a national program every year,“ Barbee said. “Because of the contacts I have and my staff has, we’ll be able to reach out on a national and even international basis.”

Denson, according to AuburnSports.com, had offers from Northeastern, Rutgers, Buffalo and UNC-Greensboro. He was receiving heavy interest from Florida, UConn, Western Kentucky and UCLA, according to the website.

Barbee now has seven fresh faces in the 2010 class, as the three he just signed join JUCO transfer forward Adrian Forbes, forward Heath Houston, forward Allen Payne and center Shawn Kemp, Jr., all of whom signed under Jeff Lebo.

War Eagle Luke Cothron

The Huntsville basketball pipeline now apparently runs through Auburn.

Auburn coach Tony Barbee signed his second Rocket City prospect in as many weeks, as highly touted forward Luke Cothron, who inked with the Tigers on Thursday,  will join Josh Langford to suddenly give Auburn’s frontcourt of the future a formidable one-two punch.

“Luke gives us a different level of talent,“ Barbee said in a university statement. “He is an immediate difference maker for us along the frontline. He is a guy who has the ability to score the ball in a variety of ways inside and outside. He has a knack for being around the ball which makes him a great rebounder.“

Cothron, at 6-foot-9 and 218 pounds, averaged 31 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks per game as a senior last year for Flora Macdonald Academy in Red Springs, N.C. He was considered the nation’s 45th best prospect and No. 11 power forward by Rivals.com.

Cothron chose Auburn over Kentucky, UConn and Tennessee among many others.

Unless current scholarship players or signees opt out of their National Letter of Intent, Auburn’s roster is now at capacity. The late signing period ends May 19.

“Auburn is a program that should be recruiting nationally, but there are good enough players in our backyard and in the Southeast to build a national program every year,“ Barbee said in an interview with the Opelika-Auburn News last week. “Because of the contacts I have and my staff has, we’ll be able to reach out on a national and even international basis.“

The Auburn Hype Machine, Chizik and Barbee get recruiting.

In Gene Chizik’s first year at Auburn, his staff, once it was fully assembled, made a significant splash in recruiting during its initial month.

It seemed the Tigers pulled some of the nation’s better recruits out of Trooper Taylor’s backward hat, as the coaches only had a short amount of time to make an impact on the trail.

With a full year under its belt, Chizik’s staff really showed what it was capable of this past February, signing a top-five class across every recruiting board in the nation.

In Tony Barbee’s first month on the job, he hit the road with just as much energy and purpose, getting into living rooms and high school gyms across Alabama within hours of his hiring, with the sole purpose of getting kids excited about a dormant basketball program.

And all he did was get the state’s top recruit, Josh Langford out of Huntsville’s Lee High School, to ink with the Tigers. Imagine what Barbee will be able to do once he’s been in the state for more than a few weeks.

Why? Because he gets it. Just like Auburn’s football coaches.

See, recruiting isn’t hard. It’s quite simple, really.

It’s about excitement. Buzz. Hype. Exposure.

Simple.

Chizik’s staff has been generating it since Day 1. Barbee’s also jumped right in with both feet after his hiring in March.

Well, OK, Barbee’s been doing it that way for a long time already. Remember, he learned from one of the best in John Calipari, who could sell ice to an eskimo.

And how do you do that?

Well, you make your ice the most recognized brand on the glacier. That, and you think outside the igloo, er, box.

But you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Tiger Prowl 1.0 caused such a stir last spring because it was something no one had seen before. Or at least cared about.

Football coaches riding around in a stretch hummer limo, visiting high schools across the state was different. And while some of us might have thought it was silly, the kids didn’t. And that’s all that really matters.

Big Cat Weekend was just as “ground breaking” in the “hype” category because of the buzz it created, both good and bad — which, at its essence, is the nature of the game.

As long as people are talking, your program is out there. The more it’s out there, the more people will notice, and talk. Simple.

Now, throw in Tiger Prowl II. Trade the limo for an RV and watch the magic happen.

And it’s not just a football thing this time. It’s an athletic department thing.

Barbee and women’s head coach Nell Fortner are making the rounds with the RV as part of the Tigers Unlimited — Auburn’s fundraising arm — hoopla. With stops in Mobile, like the one Monday, Montgomery today, then Birmingham and Huntsville on Wednesday and Thursday, Auburn is trying to paint the state orange and blue.

Whether you’re a Tiger fan or not, when you see that big ol’ bus rolling up I-65, you’ll notice. You might even honk. Or make another gesture.
Regardless, you’ll notice.

Everyone will.

Get it? Auburn does.

MIKE SZVETITZ is sports editor of the Opelika-Auburn News. He may be reached at mszvetitz@oanow.comor 737-2513.

Huntsville (Ala.) Lee High School small forward Josh Langford was committed to Louisville early on in the process and decided to back off his commitment. He visited several schools including Auburn last weekend for A-Day and Ole Miss on April 9th.

Langford left Auburn after his visit very high on the Tigers. Today he made it official when he signed scholarship papers to play for Tony Barbee and the Auburn Tigers.

The 6-foot-6, 210-pounder averaged 21 points and 12 rebounds as a senior on the 5A state championship team. Langford was also named tourney MVP. He projects as a full qualifier and will enroll at Auburn this summer.

Photo Credit: Glenn Baeske/Huntsville Times

Tony Barbee is expected to fill his coaching staff at Auburn entirely of his former assistants at UTEP, a source close to the hiring process confirmed Sunday to the Opelika-Auburn News.

Milt Wagner, Tony Madlock and Randall Dickey are expected to be named assistant coaches, while Mike Babul will be Barbee’s director of basketball operations. All four served on Barbee’s staff at UTEP throughout his four-year stint with the Miners.

Wagner has been coaching alongside Barbee since both were at Memphis under then-coach John Calipari. Wagner was a star as a player at Louisville in the late ’80s, when he helped lead the team to three Final Fours and the 1986 NCAA Championship. He is Louisville’s fifth-leading scorer in program history and played one year in the NBA with the Miami Heat before playing abroad in Israel and Europe.

Madlock spent nine years as an assistant at Arkansas State, where he spent half of his time as an assistant coach and the other half as assistant head coach, before joining Barbee at UTEP. Madlock played his college ball at Memphis, where he was a three-year starter from 1988-92.

Barbee inherited Dickey when he signed on with UTEP in 2006. Dickey spent six years with the Miners. Before landing at UTEP, Dickey was an assistant under Eddie Sutton at Oklahoma State from 1994-99 and an assistant at Washington State from 1999-2003.

Babul played at UMass while Barbee was an assistant coach and also worked alongside him for one season at Memphis as an assistant director of basketball operations. Babul lettered at UMass from 1997-2000 and served as the team’s captain during his senior season. Babul also spent one season as an assistant coach at Youngstown State.

agribble@oanow.com| 737-2561

Welcome to new Auburn Basketball Coach Tony Barbee

Tony Barbee, a 38-year-old up-and-comer who rejuvenated UTEP basketball over the past four seasons, will be named Auburn’s new head basketball coach, the Opelika-Auburn News has confirmed through sources close to the program.

Auburn is expected to announce the news later tonight and a press conference will be held tomorrow afternoon.

Barbee will become Auburn’s first black basketball coach in program history and will join track coach Ralph Spry Jr. as the only two minority head coaches at the university.

Barbee was also linked to openings at DePaul and Iowa. Barbee, who was making $300,000 annually at UTEP, is likely due for a big raise at Auburn. Athletic director Jay Jacobs said the Tigers would be competitive in the SEC arena of coaching salaries after letting go of Jeff Lebo, who made an SEC-low $785,000 salary.

Barbee has been with the Miners for four seasons now, compiling an 82-52 record. The Miners just pulled off one of their best seasons in recent history, as they went 26-7, won the Conference USA regular season title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Miners, a 12-seed, bowed out in the first round Thursday in a loss to Butler.

Barbee played his college ball at UMass under John Calipari and then had his career elevated when he served as an assistant with him at Memphis. Barbee was Calipari’s top recruiter with the Tigers and was considered one of the best in the nation before moving on to UTEP in 2006.

The key to Barbee’s success has been his tenacity on the recruiting trail. Two of Barbee’s players this season, center Derrick Caracter and guard Randy Culpepper, are considered potential 2010 NBA Draft selections if they opt to go pro one year early.

Barbee’s teams have been known for toughness on defense and rebounding. UTEP ranked 13th in the country in field goal percentage defense and 17th in steals.

Though Jacobs originally said the Tigers’ search could last two or three weeks, only 12 days elapsed since Lebo, who went 96-93 over six seasons, was fired. The search that landed head football coach Gene Chizik lasted just 10.

Lebo was hired earlier this week as East Carolina’s new head coach. Auburn owes him $1.5 million over the next three seasons.

Barbee was one of at least four serious candidates in the mix. North Texas’ Johnny Jones interviewed for the job and would have accepted the position if offered, according to a source close to Jones. The Tigers also showed interest in Minnesota’s Tubby Smith and former Auburn superstar Chuck Person.

Wright State’s Brad Brownell, Morehead State’s Donnie Tyndall, Sam Houston State’s Bob Marlin were also reportedly interviewed for the job.

And the names just keep on coming.

Jay Jacobs appears to be making the rounds in Texas, as Sam Houston State’s Bob Marlin is the newest name to emerge on Auburn’s search for a basketball coach.

A Fox TV station in Huntsville is reporting the story, quoting Sam Houston State athletic director Bobby Williams. I’ve got a call into Williams, whom I expect to call me back and tell me the same thing.

Marlin has been with the Bearkats for 12 seasons now, compiling a 225-130 record. This year might have been the best of the 12, as the Bearkats won the Southland Conference, he won the league’s Coach of the Year honor and then nearly pulled off a major upset in the NCAA Tournament, taking third-seeded Baylor to the wire in the first round. The Bearkats’ 25-7 season also included quite the romp over Auburn, a 107-89 December rout at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

Marlin has directed the Bearkats to six 20+ win seasons after inheriting a program that hadn’t finished better than sixth in the league for the previous decade. The Bearkats have won the regular season title three times and made the NCAA Tournament twice under Marlin’s watch.

A Mississippi State grad, Marlin served as a graduate assistant at Northeast Louisiana before moving on to Houston Baptist, where he spent six seasons as an assistant from 1983-89. After a year at Marshall under current Creighton head coach Dana Altman, Marlin served as the head coach at Pensacola Junior College for five seasons, compiling a 182-111 record and winning a national championship. That helped Marlin land in the SEC, as he served as an Alabama assistant coach from 1995-98 before landing with the Bearkats.

North Texas coach Johnny Jones will interview to be Auburn’s new basketball coach some time this week, the Denton Record-Chronicle is reporting tonight.

Jones’ candidacy is the latest example of the revved-up pace to Auburn’s coaching search this week, as a number of top candidates are now officially done for the season after exiting from their respective tournaments.

Jones, 50, took North Texas to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the past four seasons this year after beating Troy in the Sun Belt Tournament. The 15th-seeded Mean Green lost their first-round game to Kansas State last Thursday, 82-62.

Before Jones’ arrival in 2001, North Texas hadn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 1988. Jones has been with the Mean Green for nine seasons, compiling a 150-121 record, which includes the 24-9 mark from this season and two postseason appearances.

Jones has plenty of SEC ties. Nicknamed “The Bullet,” Jones spent four years as a player at LSU and 13 years as an assistant, appearing in two Final Fours (1981, 1987) and nine consecutive NCAA Tournaments. He also served as an assistant coach at Memphis for three seasons and Alabama for one before taking the job at North Texas.

Jones recently had his contract extended at North Texas through the 2014-15 season. He makes $200,000 per year plus incentives.

Athletic director Jay Jacobs, who has refused to comment on potential candidates, said he plans to give Auburn’s new coach a competitive SEC salary. Lebo made $785,000 per season, the lowest among the league’s coaches.

(Photo credit: AP)

Here are some names to consider this week as we parse through this slow-moving Auburn basketball coaching search.

Mike Leach
Turner Gill
Brian Kelly
Tim Brewster
Chris Petersen
Jimbo Fisher
Will Muschamp

Those were the names I dropped in my first “looking forward” story in the search to replace Tommy Tuberville. I’m not demeaning myself in any way as a reporter, but this is what we do. Few, if any, high-ranking officials are just going to fax over their list of candidates to the local beat writer. Therefore, we have to throw a few names against the wall and see if they stick.

Gene Chizik was not one of those names.

With that caveat firmly in place, let’s take a look at where the candidates I listed in a Sunday story are headed for the postseason.

Jay Jacobs probably won’t have to wait until the Final Four to talk to any of these guys.

NCAA Tournament

- Mike Anderson, No. 10 Missouri—vs. No. 7 Clemson at Jacksonville (East), Friday, 1:35 p.m. CST
- Tony Barbee, No. 12 UTEP—vs. No. 5 Butler at San Jose (West), Thursday, 3:45 p.m. CST
- Johnny Jones, No. 15 North Texas—vs. No. 2 Kansas State at Oklahoma City (West), Thursday, 1:40 p.m. CST

NIT

Mike Davis, No. 2 UAB—vs. No. 7 Coastal Carolina, Tuesday in Birmingham, 7 p.m. CST
Gregg Marshall, No. 3 Wichita State—vs. No. 6 Nevada, Wednesday in Wichita, 7:05 p.m. CST

Available to talk now

John Brady, Arkansas State
Frank Haith, Miami
Sam Mitchell, formerly of the Toronto Raptors
Chuck Person, Los Angeles Lakers