Former ISU Assistant and San Jose State Head Coach Steve Barnes Rejoins Cyclone Men's Basketball Coaching Staff

AMES, Iowa - Steve Barnes, who spent one season as an assistant at Iowa State (1998-99) and the last three years as head coach at San Jose State, will rejoin the Cyclone men's basketball coaching staff as associate head coach, ISU head coach Larry Eustachy announced today.

Barnes' resignation from San Jose State was announced today. Bob Sundvold will take over administrative assistant duties from former administrative assistant Tres Chapman, who resigned last month.

"Steve never got the credit he deserved for being such a key part of our success during the Jamaal Tinsley era," Eustachy said. "He is the best all-around basketball person I have ever been around and he will be a big plus for this program."

Barnes' and Eustachy's friendship and coaching relationship have spanned four decades, dating back to the mid 1970s when they were high school and college teammates at Arcadia High School, Citrus Junior College and Chico State. The pair have competed or coached together in six different settings (Arcadia HS, Citrus, Chico State, Idaho, Utah State and Iowa State), including all three of Eustachy's head coaching posts.

"I am really excited about coming back to Ames and having the opportunity to work with Coach Eustachy," Barnes said. "I followed Iowa State closely while I was at San Jose State and I always stayed in touch with what was happening here in Ames. It is a great opportunity for my family and me to work at Iowa State again."

Barnes' most recent stop was a three-year stint (2000-02) as head coach at San Jose State, posting a 39-51 mark. Barnes led SJSU to the school's first back-to-back .500 seasons since the mid-1980s, going 15-15 and 14-14 in his first two campaigns. In his first season with the Spartans, Barnes helped lead SJSU to a fifth-place finish in the Western Athletic Conference, the best by the school since becoming a WAC member. The Spartans were 10-22 in Barnes' final season (2001-02). That year was highlighted by a 64-62 win at Iowa State that broke the Cyclones' school-record 39-game homecourt winning streak, the second-best active winning streak in the nation at the time.

Considered a tireless and hard-working recruiter, the Arcadia, Calif., native drastically improved SJSU's recruiting plan that resulted in some of the best recruiting classes in school history. His 2001 SJSU recruiting class was ranked in the top 20 nationally by Clark Francis' HoopScoop. Barnes also had a key role in recruiting Iowa State All-American and 2001 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year Jamaal Tinsley, who was a first-round NBA draft pick in 2001.

The 44-year-old Barnes has 21 years of collegiate coaching experience, including 11 at the Division I level. He has only suffered one season with a sub-.500 record, which occurred in his final year with San Jose State.

Barnes began his coaching career in 1978 at his alma mater, Arcadia (Calif.) High School as an assistant coach and later became an assistant coach for the 1982 and 1983 seasons at his collegiate alma mater, Azusa Pacific. Barnes played two seasons at Azusa Pacific, leading his squad to a 25-10 record as a senior and earning his bachelor's degree in 1981.

He received his first head coaching job at Capistrano (Calif.) Valley High School in 1984, compiling a 34-11 record in two seasons before returning to the college level as an assistant at Saddleback College in 1985. Barnes spent two seasons at Saddleback, capping off his final year with a 28-9 record and a second-place finish at the 1987 California Community College state championship tournament.

After spending one season at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Barnes joined Kermit Davis' Idaho staff as an assistant in 1988. In his first two years at Idaho, the Vandals won a pair of Big Sky Championships and made two NCAA Tournament appearances, registering 25-6 and 24-6 marks. After Davis departed in 1990, Barnes stayed on staff at Idaho and was reunited with Eustachy for the first time as collegiate coaches when Eustachy was named head coach. Barnes and Eustachy coached three years together at Idaho, winning the Big Sky Conference Championship with a 24-8 record in 1993.

The pair continued their coaching relationship in 1994, as Barnes followed Eustachy to Utah State where Eustachy was named head coach. Following the 1994 season, Barnes left the Aggies to become an assistant at Division II Cal State Bakersfield. The Roadrunners made NCAA Tournament appearances in both of Barnes' seasons, including a 26-4 mark in his last season (1996). In his short time at CSU-Bakersfield, Barnes recruited first-team All-American and 1996 Division II Player of the Year Kebu Stewart.

The Eustachy-Barnes tandem teamed up again, as Barnes left UCSB and rejoined Eustachy at Utah State as associate head coach in 1997. The pair spent two more seasons with the Aggies, sharing the Big West Conference regular-season title in 1997 and capturing the outright title and gaining an NCAA berth in 1998 with a 25-8 record.

When Eustachy was named Iowa State's 16th head coach in school history on July 29, 1998, Barnes moved to Ames to join his friend as associate head coach on the ISU staff. The Cyclones went 15-15 in Eustachy's first season, led by first-team all-Big 12 selection and future All-American and NBA lottery pick Marcus Fizer. Barnes left ISU after Eustachy's inaugural season to pursue his first Division I head coaching job at San Jose State on Aug. 27, 1999.

Barnes was born in Frankfurt, Germany on June 22, 1957. He spent his youth growing up in North Carolina before moving to Arcadia, Calif. He and his wife, Judy, a native of Folsom, Calif., are the parents of two children, Megan (16) and Josh (14).