Scott Barnes was named head coach of the Leatherneck men’s and women’s cross country and track and field teams.
Barnes comes to Western Illinois after serving as head coach at Briar Cliff since the 2018-19 season.
During his time at Briar Cliff, Barnes coached 41 national meet qualifiers, three national champions, two national meet runners-up, 14 All Americans and two-time United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association Midwest Regional Athlete of the Year and Great Britain Olympic qualifier, Ben Jefferies.
In 2022 his track and field team finished 26th nationally at indoor and outdoor meets. In 2021, his squad was 13th at the national indoor championships.
Before coaching at Briar Cliff, Barnes was head cross country coach at Indian Hills Community College from 2014-18 and head track and field coach from 2015-2018.
As cross country coach at Indian Hills, Barnes coached 11 All-Region cross country runners.
In 2015, his squad was ranked 24th in the NJCAA Cross Country Rankings while the 2016 women’s team placed 20th at the NJCAA National Championships.
As track and field coach, he coached 26 national qualifiers, including signing the 2021 Olympic Silver medalist in the 200 and 2024 Olympic qualifier, Kenny Bednarek. He also coached 13 All-Americans and two national runners-up. His men’s indoor team placed 25th at the NJCAA National Meet during the 2016-17 season and his men’s outdoor team placed 18th at the National meet in 18th.
Academically, his men’s indoor track and field lead ranked tops in NJCAA in GPA in 2015. He also coached 32 cross country/track and field Academic All-Americans at Indian Hills.
Before becoming a head coach, Barnes was the assistant men’s and women’s cross country coach at Muskegon Community College from July 2013 to January 2014 and the assistant men’s and women’s cross country and track and field coach at Grand Valley State from June 2012 to June 2013.
He ran collegiately and graduated from Central Michigan University where he was Academic All-Conference and All-Midwest Athletic Conference in the mile.
He received his Masters from Arkansas State.
