Auburn outspent Kentucky on basketball recruiting in 2012-13

AUBURN – By the third year of what was one of the worst coaching tenures in the history of Auburn basketball, former coach Tony Barbee spent more on recruiting than all but two public universities, even outpacing Kentucky, and had little to show for it.

Auburn spent $464,946 on recruiting, most among the 13 SEC public schools and third-highest nationally, during the 2012-13 school year, the most recent data available, according to data compiled by USA TODAY in conjunction with Indiana University's National Sports Journalism Center from financial reports the schools file annually with the NCAA.

"It was a bad return on investment," Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobstold USA TODAY Sports. "It didn't work out. So I fired him."

While seven of his SEC competitors, including Alabama, were able to land top 30 recruiting classes, mostly at a fraction of the cost, Barbee signed seven players to a class comprised of only three-star recruits ranked 79th nationally and 13th in the SEC by 247Sports in 2013. Only three of those signees even made it to this season.

Junior college transfer Malcolm Canada, who had almost no success under Barbee, flourished as a backup and occasional starter this season under coach Bruce Pearl. Guard Tahj Shamsid-Deen is the team's best defender and a two-year starter and Matthew Atewe, who came off the bench for 18 games in 2013-14, sat out this past season due to injury. Alex Thompson, initially a walk-on, was later awarded a scholarship.

Junior college transfer Chris Griffin was suspended and later transferred midway through the 2013-14 season, Benas Griciunas transferred to Charlotte following Barbee's firing, Ronald Delph sat out the 2013-14 season before taking an "indefinite leave of absence" this fall and Dion Wade came off the bench for 18 games in 2013-14 and transferred to Miami (Ohio) in the offseason.

The big change in Auburn's spending was incurred in Barbee's second season, which saw Auburn spend $442,916 – third nationally and second to Kentucky in the SEC – in 2011-12 after just $296,931 in 2010-11.

Auburn's class of six signees in 2012 was ranked 35th national and 4th in the SEC by 247Sports thanks in large part to four-star prospects Jordan Price and Shaq Johnson, both of whom left the program after one year. Price is now starring at La Salle and Johnson was dismissed following an arrest for possession of marijuana in July 2013.

Guard Brian Greene Jr. transferred to Florida Gulf Coast following the 2012-13 season and junior college transfer Shareif Adamu was dismissed after just four games. Only junior college transfer Asauhn Dixon-Tatum, who completed a two-year career, and Jordon Granger even stuck with the program for more than one season.

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

Barbee claimed the high number of transfers during his tenure was a "college basketball problem" not just a "Tony Barbee problem," though if the number of transfers each year would more than double if the rate of attrition he experienced happened at the more than 300 other Division I programs.

Barbee and his staff all but abandoned recruiting in the state of Alabama but found it worthwhile to pursue prospects from deep off the bench at powerhouse Findlay Prep in Las Vegas or even Australia.

Auburn's average recruiting spending in the five-year period starting in 2008-09 was $325,907, far outpacing the SEC average of $209,338. By comparison, Alabama's average was $209,570.

Alabama's five-year spending ($1,047,849) ranked 18th nationally and seventh in the SEC whereas Auburn's five-year total ($1,629,533) was fourth nationally and second only to Kentucky ($1,981,786) in the SEC, with an increase of $262,334 over that period that led the conference.

"If somebody says I need $200,000 more for airplane use, if it's reasonable, I'm going to do everything I can to get it to him," Jacobs said. "My job is to take every excuse off the table – that's reasonable – for all of our head coaches to have the best chance to win and graduate the student athletes. Make good business decisions, but at the same time our prior staff (under Jeff Lebo) didn't use the jet very much so Tony wanted to use it more, create a more nationwide recruiting budget and base."

Only three other programs who were among the top 30 in recruiting spending from 2008-09 to 2012-13 failed to make it to the NCAA Tournament, with Arkansas and Utah making it this season, leaving only Virginia Tech, which spent $982,597 – 20th nationally, to match Auburn's spending and failures on the court.

Like Auburn, Virginia Tech also changed coaching staffs, firing Seth Greenberg in 2012 and James Johnson in 2014.

Barbee was fired less than two hours following Auburn's loss in the first round of the 2014 SEC Tournament, his fourth in as many years.

Now serving as a "special assistant to the head coach" at Kentucky under mentor John Calipari, Barbee is owed the remainder of an approximately $2.4 million buyout through June 2017.

Speaking to the Advertiser during last week's SEC Tournament, Barbee said "I got no comment on anything that happened at Auburn. It was a good time in my life and I've moved on and so have they."

Auburn went 49-75 under Barbee, the worst four-year stretch for the program since 1971-74. Under Barbee, Auburn experienced the program's 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.

Though financial data is not yet available for 2013-14, the last season under Barbee and the beginning of Pearl's tenure, the results in recruiting are night and day.

While he served the remainder of his three-year NCAA show-cause penalty, Pearl's staff landed transfers Cinmeon Bowers, K.C. Ross-Miller and Antoine Mason and signed T.J. Lang and Trayvon Reed last offseason, a group that helped lead Auburn (15-20) to three wins in last week's SEC Tournament, the program's best outing since 1985.

Auburn's 2015 recruiting class, currently with four signees, is ranked 12th nationally and third in the SEC by 247Sports.