Matt Barnes (born May 27, 1986) is an American football coach who is currently the defensive coordinator for the

Memphis Tigers The Memphis Tigers are the Sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Memphis, located in Memphis, Tennessee. The teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level as a member of ...

. He previously served as the special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach at

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

Playing career

Barnes played linebacker for Salisbury University. Barnes played Tailback and Safety for the Urbana Hawks during their then State record 50 game win streak. Becoming, along with Billy Gaines and Eric Lenz, one of the only Sophomores to make the start for Dave Carruthers at Urbana.

Coaching career

Barnes began his coaching career in 2009 as the running backs coach for

Delaware Valley University Delaware Valley University (DelVal) is a private university in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1896, it enrolls approximately 1,900 students on its suburban, 570-acre campus. DelVal offers more than 28 undergraduate majors, seven master's p ...

. In 2010, he coached running backs

West Virginia Wesleyan College West Virginia Wesleyan College is a private college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. It has an enrollment of about 1,400 students from 35 U.S. states and 26 countries. The school was founded in 1890 by the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist E ...

. In 2011, Barnes served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for West Virginia Wesleyan. Barnes got his first coaching opportunity at the Division I level as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respons ...

at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

. He held this role from 2012-2014. In 2015, he joined the staff at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

as a defensive analyst. From 2016-2018, he served as linebackers coach and special teams coordinator for the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

Ohio State

In 2019, Barnes accepted a job on Ryan Day's staff at Ohio State as assistant secondary coach and special teams coordinator. Prior to the 2020 season, Barnes was given the title of safeties coach and special teams coordinator. Barnes was then named the secondary coach on February 3, 2021. Following defensive struggles for the Buckeyes in the beginning of the 2021 season, defensive coordinator

Kerry Coombs Kerry Coombs (born September 9, 1961) is an American football coach who is the interim head coach at Cincinnati. Previously, Coombs was an assistant coach for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL) in 2018 and 2019 and the def ...

was stripped of defensive play calling duties, which were given to Barnes.

Memphis

On January 1, 2022, it was reported that Barnes would become the defensive coordinator at

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Matt 1986 births Living people American football linebackers Salisbury Sea Gulls football players Delaware Valley Aggies football coaches West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats football coaches Florida Gators football coaches Michigan Wolverines football coaches Maryland Terrapins football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches