Gary Barnett
Central 1964
Gary Barnett graduated from Central High in 1964. He received his bachelor's degree in social studies in 1969 and his master's degree in education in 1971, both from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He lives in Boulder, CO.
Gary is the head football coach at the University of Colorado. At Colorado, he has won one Big 12 Conference title and two Big 12 North Division championships. In 2001 and 2002 his Colorado teams compiled a 14-2 record in conference games, one of the best two-year records in league history. He has coached the Buffaloes in the Fiesta, Alamo and Insight.com bowl games. Gary also served as an assistant coach at Colorado under Bill McCartney from 1984-91.
In 1992 Gary became head coach at Northwestern University. As coach of the Wildcats, he led the team to an outright Big Ten Conference championship in 1995 and a shared championship in 1996. He took the team to their first bowl game in 47 years when the 1995 team played USC in the Rose Bowl. The 1996 team played in the Citrus Bowl, marking the first time ever that Northwestern teams went to back-to-back bowl games.
The winnings seasons in 1995 and 1996 matched the school's total number of winning seasons for the previous 31 seasons. Gary was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year in both winning seasons and he won 18 citations in all as the Big Ten and/or national coach of the year in 1995. Northwestern was honored with the 1998 American Football Coaches Association Outstanding Academic Award, as the Wildcats had the nation's highest graduation rate.
Gary got his start in coaching at his alma mater, Mizzou. After lettering as a senior at wide receiver, he worked as a graduate assistant under coach Al Onofrio. He then moved to Colorado to become an assistant and then head coach at Air Academy High School. His next head coaching position was at Fort Lewis College in Colorado, after which he joined the staff of head coach Bill McCartney at the University of Colorado.