Dec. 31, 2003
WACO, Texas - Jim Barnes, who recently completed his second year as Wyoming's head women's volleyball coach, has been selected to lead the Baylor volleyball program, Director of Athletics Ian McCaw announced today.
"Jim Barnes is a talented coach who has demonstrated the ability to elevate the performance of programs at both Lamar and Wyoming," said McCaw. "He has earned the respect of student-athletes, fellow coaches and administrators with whom he has come in contact and we are excited about him joining the Baylor family."
In eight seasons as a Division I head coach, including stops at both Wyoming and Lamar, Barnes has posted an impressive 163-98 (.625) record, winning 20 or more matches five times, while leading his teams to seven winning campaigns and twice earning conference Coach of the Year honors.
"It is a tremendous honor for me to be the head volleyball coach at Baylor University," said Barnes. "Baylor is a very special place with values and a philosophy that mirror my own. My staff and I look forward to making the entire Baylor family and fans very proud of our program. I want to thank Ian McCaw and his staff for their support and first rate leadership through this process.
"I leave Wyoming with a heavy heart, fond friendships and memories," he added. "My family and I look forward to a new and lasting relationship within the Baylor family. After talking with the student/athletes on the team, I am already impressed with their character and eagerness to be the best. The spring will be a great opportunity to implement our system, build our team concept and trust in each other. I've learned that with hard work and great teamwork success soon follows."
"Jim Barnes will be a great fit as the head coach of Baylor women's volleyball," said former Nebraska coach Terry Pettit, a three-time national volleyball coach of the year who served as a consultant to McCaw in the coaching search for the program's eighth head coach in its 25-year history. Pettit guided the Cornhuskers to the 1995 NCAA championship, 43 NCAA Tournament victories and 21 Big Eight or Big 12 conference titles in 23 seasons at Nebraska.
"He communicates in a way that gives people the best opportunity to come together as a team, and he understands and embraces the mission of Baylor University," Pettit added. "His experience in building programs at Lamar and Wyoming will allow him to take a program that has had some successes to a consistently higher level."
Introduced as the 10th head coach in Wyoming volleyball history on Dec. 19, 2001, Barnes took over a program that posted a 9-15 record in the season prior to his arrival and promptly produced the school's first 20-win season since 1989 with a 20-11 mark. Only the third Wyoming coach, and the first since 1983, to win 20 matches in his debut season at the Laramie, Wyo., school, Barnes' 2002 team fashioned an 11-match win string and won in-season tournament titles at host-schools Auburn, Central Michigan, Cornell and Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
Barnes' second Wyoming team raced to a 13-6 start, highlighted by a pair of victories over Baylor and a championship at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic. However, his team lost three key players to injuries down the stretch and finished 15-16 overall, giving him a two-year UW mark of 35-27 (.565). Of the program's 10 coaches, only two won more games in their first two seasons at the Cowgirl helm than Barnes.
The Wyoming program had one student-athlete earn first-team All-Mountain West Conference honors each season Barnes was on the bench and his 2002 squad had five players earn Academic All-Conference recognition (note: the Mountain West's 2003 academic honor squad has not yet been released).
Before moving to Wyoming, Barnes spent six seasons as head coach at Lamar University, where his teams posted an overall record of 128-71 (.643). He earned 2001 Southland Conference Coach of the Year honors after leading his final Lady Cardinal squad, which featured four all-conference performers, to a 26-5 record and the Southland Conference regular-season title with an 18-2 record.
Barnes guided LU to 24 victories in 2000, the program's most since 1993, and picked up his 100th career coaching win along the way. He also led the Lady Cardinals to the finals of the Southland Conference Tournament, just one victory away from a berth in the NCAA Tournament. In the tournament semifinals that year, Lamar knocked off undefeated regular-season champion Southwest Texas and ended the nation's longest winning streak at 23 matches.
In four seasons (1998-2000) of play in the Southland Conference, his Lamar teams posted 86 victories and he was inducted into the Tachikara Victory Club. Prior to that, Lamar was a member of the Sun Belt Conference.
Picked to finish sixth in the 1997 Sun Belt Conference preseason coaches poll, Barnes directed the Lady Cards to a share of the conference title with an 8-1 record and was rewarded with Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year honors. His squad, which ended Arkansas State's nation-leading 54-match regular-season win streak, advanced to the Sun Belt Tournament finals before falling to preseason title favorite Arkansas-Little Rock and ending the year with a 22-15 record.
In his first season at Lamar, he inherited a team that finished 13-22 the year and lost two All-Sun Belt Conference performers. With a team that started no seniors and two freshmen, the Lady Cardinals won the NSU Tournament and the Stephen F. Austin Invitational en route to a 20-13 final mark.
The Sulphur, La., native took over the Lamar program after spending six seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater, McNeese State. At the Lake Charles, La., school, he was involved in all facets of the program including scheduling, recruiting, game preparation, travel and day-to-day operations. In 1993, McNeese posted what was then its best finish in school history at 25-7 and finished as the Southland Conference runner-up. The 1994 squad posted a 22-7 mark and earned MSU's first-ever regional ranking.
Barnes earned his bachelor's degree in health and human performance from McNeese State in 1994 and completed his master's degree from the school in 1996. He is married to the former Tracy Pittman, and the couple has two daughters, Brooke Aidan and Jenna Grace.
Barnes, who inherits a program that finished 12-22 overall and 4-16 in Big 12 play this past season, replaces Brian Hosfeld, who resigned his position at Baylor Dec. 6, 2003.
Jim Barnes' Year-By-Year Head Coaching Record
Season School Overall Conf./Finish1996 Lamar 20-13 3-6/6th1997 Lamar 22-15 8-1/1st1998 Lamar 19-12 11-9/6th1999 Lamar 17-15 11-9/6th2000 Lamar 24-11 12-8/5th2001 Lamar 26-5 18-2/1st2002 Wyoming 20-11 5-9/6th2003 Wyoming 15-16 4-10/T-5thEight-Year Totals 163-98 72-54
