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People of Note: Time out with Coach Barbee

by Sarah McCoy
photography by Bruce Berman

I always picture Coach Tony Barbee pacing the sidelines of the Haskin’s Center in a tailored, pin-stripe suit, reading his opponent’s moves and strategizing a team offense. So it was a bit hard to imagine him reading Dr. Seuss’ One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish with two kids snuggled at his side or laughing at Martin reruns with his wife Holly. But, yes, that’s Tony Barbee, too. Coaches of successful university teams are often seen as sports machines, geniuses with a master plan for absolute victory, but we forget they are people just like us.

“There’s so much in the title ‘Coach’,” Barbee explained. “Coaching is probably ten percent of this job.” Like the title, we only know Coach Barbee, a fraction of Tony Barbee.

The stats: He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and attended the University of Massachusetts where he was a 1993 graduate earning a B.A. in sports management and playing for renowned basketball Coach John Calipari. After college, he played professionally in Spain, France and Venezuela before returning to the University of Massachusetts as a graduate assistant to the basketball team. From the University of Massachusetts, he went on to Wyoming and eventually reunited with Coach Calipari in Memphis where he remained for seven years. In 2006, he came to El Paso as the head coach of the UTEP Miners men’s basketball program.

The accolades: Street & Smith’s 2005-06 preseason college basketball yearbook named Barbee the top assistant coach in Conference USA and one of the top recruiters in the nation. “Not only will Tony recruit student-athletes that will make the El Paso community proud, but he will coach them up and the fans will be proud to watch,” said Calipari.

So those are the season box scores for Barbee’s career, but like he said, that’s only ten percent. He’s eager for his new hometown to get to know the rest of him.

“It’s such a great community, great people, great fans. They’re all supportive. They want you to do well,” said Barbee.

Coaching a successful team has been Barbee’s childhood dream. “I knew at an early age that I wanted to be a coach. Growing up, I played everything—baseball, basketball, football, my dad even got me into golf… but I came to the realization that basketball was the sport for me.”

Barbee’s father played high school basketball with Oscar Robertson and college football at the University of Tennessee. “I kind of grew up with a sports background family,” he explained. “And like any kid, I dreamed of taking basketball as far as I could go. I got to play overseas and see a lot of the world… I knew everything I did as a player was to prepare myself for the opportunity to coach.”

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