Barnes comes to Drake after two stints at South Dakota State from 2019-21 and the previous 2024-25 season serving as an assistant coach.
Barnes was a part of Henderson’s staff in his first two seasons guiding the Jackrabbit program. The two campaigns saw SDSU earn a pair of Summit League regular season championships.
During his stay in Brookings, Barnes was instrumental in the development of all-league performers Baylor Scheierman and Douglas Wilson. Both were Summit League Players of the Year during their time in Yellow and Blue. For his efforts, Barnes was named to Silver Waves Media’s Top-50 Impactful Mid-Major Assistants list.
Barnes also had stops at the University Utah and Utah State on the coaching staffs led by Craig Smith. He served as a director of player personnel and assistant coach for the Utes and during the 2018-19 season at Utah State he served as director of basketball operations and player development.
Barnes began his coaching career at Southwest Minnesota State after a four-year collegiate career capped by two seasons with the Mustangs. He spent six seasons on the SMSU coaching staff. While with the Mustangs, Barnes led them to a South Division Championship in the NSIC back-to-back years while going 53-15 in those two seasons – including a record-tying 28 victories in 2016-17.
Barnes received his bachelor’s in sports management from Southwest Minnesota State in 2013 before earning his masters in physical education from SMSU. Barnes is married to his wife, Brittani Wiese, who was four-year letter winner at Minnesota Crookston, and have one son together, Booker.
