Tony Barbee frontrunner for Central Michigan job, Orlando Antigua likely returning to UK, per report

The rumor mill is churning hard!

According to Jeff Goodman of Stadium, Kentucky assistant coach Tony Barbee is a frontrunner to land the head coaching position at Central Michigan University AND Illinois assistant coach Orlando Antigua will likely return to Kentucky as an assistant under head coach John Calipari.

Tony Barbee the frontrunner to land Central Michigan head coaching job, source told @Stadium.

Illinois assistant Orlando Antigua likely to return to Kentucky, source also told @Stadium.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 22, 2021

Rumors have been circulating loudly over the last few hours that Kentucky would experience some dramatic coaching staff changes and it would appear those are coming to fruition.

Antigua previously worked as an assistant under Calipari at both Memphis and Kentucky, following Calipari to Lexington after Calipari accepted the Kentucky head coaching job back in 2009. Antigua eventually left to take over as head coach at the University of South Florida in 2014 and stayed there until he was dismissed in 2017. He later accepted an assistant coaching role at Illinois and has been there ever since.

As for Barbee, he came to Kentucky back in 2014 after he was fired from Auburn following four seasons as the Tigers head coach. Prior to that, he was the lead man at UTEP for four seasons.