Gary Barnett (2019) - CU Athletic Hall of Fame - University of Colorado Athletics

Gary Barnett

Induction:
2019

Barnett was named the 22nd head coach in CU’s football history in January 1999, and would go on to compile a 49-38 record over seven seasons (1999-2005), leading the Buffaloes to the 2001 Big 12 Conference championship, four Big 12 North Division titles (2001-02-04-05) and five bowl games (1999 Insight, 2002 Fiesta, 2002 Alamo, 2004 Houston, 2005 Champ Sports) … CU appeared in four Big 12 championship games, winning the ’01 affair in a thrilling 39-37 verdict over No. 3 Texas in Irving, Texas (essentially a road game); that had followed one of the biggest wins in school history, a 62-36 thrashing of No. 2 Nebraska in Boulder the previous week (NU was actually No. 1 in the BCS Standings at the time) … He was the Big 12’s Coach of the Year in both 2001 and 2004 … During his time, CU was 34-22 against Big 12 opponents, with the 14-2 mark over the 2001-02 seasons the fourth-best two-year record in the history of the league … His 2001 team defeated five ranked teams, tying the school mark set three previous occasions … CU finished No. 9 in polls in 2001, and No. 20 (Associated Press) and No. 21 (USA Today/Coaches) in 2004; in 2001, the Buffs just missed by percentage points of finishing second in the BCS Standings which would have earned them a berth in the BCS title game … During his tenure, nine Buffaloes earned first-team All-America honors, while on 22 occasions his players earned first-team All-Big 12 accolades … His first stint with CU was as an assistant coach from 1984-91, where in those eight seasons the Buffaloes compiled a 59-34-2 record, won two Big Eight Conference titles and shared a third, and were the 1990 consensus national champions … He coached the running backs in his first season, and then would tutor the quarterbacks and fullbacks over the next seven years, also serving as CU’s offensive coordinator in his final year (1991) before he was named head coach at Northwestern … He would compile a 35-45-1 record at Northwestern over seven years, but would coach the Wildcats to Big Ten titles in 1995 and 1996 and berths in the Rose and Citrus bowls (NU had not been to a bowl since 1949) … The near-unanimous choice for National Coach of the Year in 1995 … He owned an 8-11-1 record as head coach of Fort Lewis (Durango, Colo.) prior to joining the CU staff … After his coaching career, he became a analysts on national radio for assorted national games of the week, developing quickly into one of the best in the business … He was inducted into the Northwestern Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015 … He was born May 23, 1946 in Lakeland, Fla., he currently is entering his fourth year as the color analysts for CU football games on the CU Football Radio Network.