Tony Barbee promoted to assistant coach at Kentucky

AUBURN -- After serving as a "special assistant to the head coach" for mentor and friend John Calipari last season, former Auburn coach Tony Barbee was promoted to assistant coach on Friday, the school announced.

Barbee, who Auburn owes the remainder of a $2.4 million buyout through June 2017, will fill the position of Barry "Slice" Rohrssen, who accepted a position at St. John's last month.

"I'm excited for Tony, who has been a part of my basketball family for more than 20 years," Calipari said in a statement. "Tony has proven himself to be one of the top coaches in the country. The knowledge and experience he brought to our staff last season was invaluable. To have him be a part of our staff is a blessing for all of us."

Financial terms of Barbee's new position were not immediately disclosed.

Kentucky credits Barbee, who interviewed for the Nevada head coach position in March, with assisting in game-plan preparation, practice plans and administrative duties during the last year in Lexington.

"I really enjoyed my first season in Lexington and I'm looking forward to returning to the bench as a coach," Barbee said in a statement. "I'm grateful to coach Cal for giving me the opportunity to represent this prestigious program and university in this capacity."

Barbee went 49-75 at Auburn, the worst four-year stretch for the program since 1971-74, and led the program to its worst single-season stretch with losses in 16 of 17 games to close the 2012-13 season, worst SEC losing streak (15 regular season, 16 to conference foes), no wins over ranked opponents (0-11), and a 2-6 mark against Alabama.

Barbee's woeful run on the Plains came despite having a recruiting budget that topped the SEC in 2012-13 and was among the highest in the country.

Twelve players left Auburn early during Barbee's four years, the majority being his own signees, with more departing following his firing after the 2014 SEC Tournament.

Including his previous stint at UTEP, Barbee's career record is 131-126, with one NCAA Tournament appearance while with the Miners.