Brian Barnes Employed as Duke Swimming’s New Head Coach
Duke College on Monday introduced the hiring of Brian Barnes as this system’s new director of swimming and diving.
Barnes makes the in-state transfer from NC State, the place he spent the final three years because the affiliate head coach. Barnes is the sixth head coach in Duke historical past, replacing the late Dan Colella.
“I need to thank President Vincent Worth, Director of Athletics Nina King and the remainder of the hiring committee for this chance,” Barnes said in a university statement. “I’m humbled and honored to observe the late Dan Colella on this function. Dan’s ardour for the game and his student-athletes is one thing that I try to proceed and observe right here at Duke. I’ve been so lucky all through my teaching profession to have been surrounded by so many wonderful swimmers, divers and training friends. Accepting the pinnacle teaching job at Duke is a product of all these influences and I stay humble realizing that not everyone seems to be afforded a chance like this. I need to thank my 16-year-old son, Jack, and 14-year-old daughter, Caroline. I’ve at all times made these choices trying by means of their lens and so they have been proper beside me at each stage on this course of, usually sending me supportive texts and messages for added inspiration. I’ve been moved by their assist.”
Barnes has charted a protracted teaching profession since his commencement from Indiana College. With NC State, Barnes helped the Wolfpack males win ACC titles in 2022 and 2023. The lads’s group completed fourth at NCAAs in 2022 with the ladies fifth. Each groups have been within the high eight at NCAAs all three of his seasons there.
“We’re completely thrilled that Brian and his household are becoming a member of the Duke Blue Satan household,” Director of Athletics Nina King stated. “His ardour and data of the game, alongside along with his compassion for student-athletes resonated with us through the hiring course of. He has clearly demonstrated success as a head coach at this stage and we really look ahead to Brian getting began on this function. I’ve little doubt that Brian Barnes is completely the precise particular person to construct upon Dan Colella’s longtime success with Duke swimming and diving.”
Earlier than NC State, Barnes spent two years as an assistant coach to the lads’s group at Purdue, serving to the Boilermakers in 2020 win their first Massive Ten relay medal in 11 years. He was a three-time Massive East Coach of the 12 months on the helm of the ladies’s group at Notre Dame. He led the Fightin’ Irish to Massive East titles in 2009 and 2010 and oversaw their transition to the Atlantic Coast Convention. He additionally coached Emma Reaney, Notre Dame’s first NCAA swimming champion and the 2014 ACC Ladies’s Swimmer of the 12 months.
Barnes additionally coached at Kansas and Auburn. The native of Osceola, Ind., was a seven-time All-American at Indiana. He certified for the U.S. nationwide group in 1989 and 1992 and swam at U.S. Olympic Trials in 1992 and 1996.
“Brian will do an excellent job main the Duke males’s and girls’s program!,” stated David Marsh, the affiliate head coach on the College of California Berkeley. “Coach Barnes is likely one of the best possible coaches I’ve ever shared the deck with. He understands the science, artwork, and the student-athlete expertise that’s so essential in school teaching. Highschool swimmers who need to try for World Class performances and have the wonderful Duke expertise (as my daughter did) might be smart to contemplate Duke College. Coach Barnes skilled growth working with most of the nation’s high packages can provide Blue Satan followers and the present swimmers and divers confidence that there are thrilling days forward!”
“Brian Barnes has one of many most interesting swimming minds of our day,” stated retired Purdue males’s coach Dan Ross. “His teaching tree of Ray Looze, Richard Fast, David Marsh, and extra not too long ago Braden Holloway and the legendary Mark Bernadino, are nearly as good as they get. He made me a greater coach throughout his time at Purdue. Very constructive and complimentary of all of his co-workers wherever he labored. He can coach any occasion, any intercourse and any physiological make-up. With the precise workers round him, Duke will flourish. He is aware of the best way to recruit excellent college students who’re glorious swimmers from being at Notre Dame and Purdue with comparable teachers to Duke.”
