Jamaal Barnes Joins Track and Field Coaching Staff

University of Louisville head track and field/cross country Dale Cowper has announced that Jamaal Barnes will join his staff as an assistant coach.

"We are excited to have Coach Barnes join our staff today," said Cowper. "He is not only an excellent coach and recruiter, but also has a history of developing outstanding rapport with students. As we went through a complete search, it became clear that he is the right candidate to move our jumps forward."

Barnes joins the Cardinals after amassing 11 years of coaching experience, with seven of those seasons coming at the collegiate level. Over the course of his career, Barnes has coached six All-Americans, six NCAA national qualifiers, 16 individual conference champions, 145 all-conference performers, 58 NJCAA national qualifiers, 60 school record holders, and helped oversee two conference champion teams. He completed his USATF Level 1 Coaching Certification in 2015 and received his USTFCCCA Sprints/Hurdles/Relays and Strength and Conditioning Certification in 2018.

"I am honored to have such a great opportunity to coach at the University of Louisville," said Barnes. "I'm forever grateful for what Coach Jon Stuart and the University of Southern Mississippi have afforded me these last three years. Recently, I've had a great view of what the program here at Louisville has done and the success obtained under Coach Cowper. I'm certainly looking forward to upholding the jumps tradition and doing my part to add to that legacy!"

Barnes comes to Louisville after spending the last four years (2019-22) as an assistant coach at Southern Mississippi, where he worked primarily with the jumps, sprints, hurdles, and multi-events. While at Southern Miss, Barnes coached six NCAA qualifiers (all of whom earned All-American status), three Conference USA champions, 10 All-C-USA performers, and two program record holders. The women's squad also captured back-to-back C-USA indoor championships during the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

The 2022 campaign was highlighted by high jumper Corvell Todd, who Barnes coached to a national runner-up finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships, where he cleared a height of 2.29m (7-6). That performance not only shattered the previous school record, but also made Todd the highest male finisher at the NCAA Indoor Championships in program history, and only the third Southern Miss athlete to earn a medal at an NCAA meet. Todd also earned second-team All-American honors with a tenth-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He also captured the indoor Conference USA title in the high jump, helping him to earn the Conference USA Male Field Athlete of the Year, becoming the second Golden Eagle to earn the honor.

During the 2021 campaign, Barnes saw two of his high jumpers establish themselves as national qualifiers, as Todd placed fifth at the NCAA Indoor Championships and Eric Richards tied for 19^th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Barnes' debut season in 2019-20 was defined by the performance of high jumper Eric Richards, who broke his own then-school record with a jump of 2.25m (7-4.5) during the indoor season. Richards secured the indoor Conference USA title in the high jump and was slated to compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships before they were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Before his stint at Southern Miss, Barnes spent two years as the head track and field coach at Pratt Community College. While at PCC, he turned the Beavers into a powerhouse, consistently ranked in the top 20 of the NJCAA after not finishing the season in the rankings since 1983.

Barnes coached 58 NJCAA national qualifiers and saw 12 of those athletes earn All-American status. Barnes' time at Pratt also saw the Beavers dominate the Jayhawk Conference West, with the school accounting for eight conference champions and 104 all-conference performers. His success at PCC even extended to the national level as the school fielded athletes at the U20 nationals, Pan-Am Games, and University Games.

Barnes worked at Georgia State University on two separate occasions, acting as an assistant coach for the 2014-15 and 2016-17 seasons. During his two stints with the Panthers, Barnes coached four Sun Belt conference champions, 19 all-conference performers, and four school record holders.

During his first season at GSU, he guided sprinter Ravin Gilbert to two outdoor conference titles in the 100m and 200m dashes, as well as an indoor championship in the 100m dash. Gilbert was awarded the 2015 Sun Belt Most Outstanding Track Performer after scoring a league-best 24 points at the outdoor championship meet.

Barnes also served as an assistant coach at Augusta University during the 2015-16 season in between stints at Georgia State. While at Augusta, he helped 12 athletes earn all-conference honors, while nine school records were broken in that same time frame. Barnes also coached Christian Collier to a Peach Belt championship in the long jump, winning the outdoor competition with a leap of 7.29m (23-11).

Prior to joining the collegiate coaching ranks, Barnes was the associate head coach at Opelika High School in Alabama from 2011 to 2014. At OHS, the teams rewrote the record books with 16 new records being established. The Bulldogs also excelled at the state level over the three years Barnes was there, as four state champions came from Opelika and the boys' team finished as the state runner-up in 2014. Four athletes were also recognized as New Balance All-Americans under the tutelage of Barnes.

The Decatur, Georgia native graduated from Auburn University in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science. During his time at Auburn, Barnes competed as a sprinter for the Tigers' track and field team, qualifying for the NCAA Regional in the 4x100m relay during the 2006 campaign.

Barnes also earned his master's of science in sport management from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2022.

University of Louisville Athletics

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