Coach Rod Barnes
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- Title:
- Head Coach
Bio
Rod Barnes
Head Men’s Basketball Coach
Rod Barnes was named head men’s basketball coach at Itawamba Community College after a long NCAA coaching career that includes head coaching stops at Ole Miss, Georgia State, and Cal State Bakersfield. A Mississippi native and former Ole Miss standout, Barnes brings decades of experience in player development, recruiting, and building programs with postseason success.
Barnes is widely known for his time at Ole Miss, where he played from 1985–88 and later returned as an assistant coach before being named head coach in 1998. He guided the Rebels to one of the best seasons in program history in 2000–01, when Ole Miss won 27 games, captured the SEC Western Division championship, and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16. Barnes earned Naismith National Coach of the Year and SEC Coach of the Year honors following that season.
After Ole Miss, Barnes served as an assistant coach at Oklahoma before taking over as head coach at Georgia State. He later spent 14 seasons as head coach at Cal State Bakersfield, leading the Roadrunners to the program’s first NCAA Division I Tournament appearance in 2016 and additional postseason success, including an NIT run.