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Barber enters his third season as the head men's basketball coach at Gallaudet University, for the 2009-2010 season, and serves as the NCAA Compliance Officer for the Bison a position he has held for over two years.
A year ago, in only his second season, Barber led Gallaudet to a record of 11-14. That is just the 14th 10-win season in the school's 104-year history of playing basketball. Two of the wins came at Gallaudet's Annual Holiday Classic in which the Buff and Blue kept the hardware at home for the first time in the tournament's history as they defeated PSU-York and Maryland Bible College. In his first season at Gallaudet the Bison finished 6-19 overall, along with a conference record of 4-12, including two wins against his mentor Brett Adams the head coach at Stevenson University. The aspect that Barber is most proud of, however, is the fact that his team has boasted over a 3.0 GPA both years at the helm of the program.
Barber came to Gallaudet from Villa Julie College (currently Stevenson University), where he was the Assistant Athletic Director, Sports Information Director, Head Coach of Men's Tennis and Head Assistant Coach of Men's Basketball. Barber is also an alumnus of Villa Julie College, where he majored in Interdisciplinary Studies: Education and Psychology, in 2001. He then earned his Master's Degree from McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College) where he majored in Exercise Science and Athletic Administration in 2005.
Barber joined the Villa Julie athletics staff after graduating from VJC. He was the Head Basketball Assistant for six years under Adams. His basketball duties included being the chief recruiter as well as planning and execution of day-to-day practices. He was an integral part of taking a team that was 7-18 the year before he joined the coaching staff, to a team that went 58-27 over the final three years of his tenure. Under his assistance the Mustangs earned an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament in 2006, and an automatic berth after winning the North Eastern Athletic Conference championship in 2007. In 2006, the Mustangs made it to the round of 32 after they defeated the No. 1 seed in the pod Baruch College on its home court, before they fell to William Paterson University. The two NCAA tournament appearances were the first in the school's history for men's basketball.
While running his team with the motto, "Play hard, play smart, play together," Barber and his men's teams have gained a reputation of playing resilient basketball. Barber also runs his program with his most important goal in mind, which is to watch his student-athletes graduate and earn respectable careers. Barber believes that it is the coaching staff's job to teach his players life lessons through the game of basketball. It brings him great joy to watch student-athletes from different backgrounds from all over the country come together on the basketball court as one cohesive unit.
Barber and his wife, Tricia, reside in Mechanicsville, Md., and are the proud parents of three children; daughters Cali and Peyton and their son Carson.
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