In stunning news late Tuesday afternoon Notre Dame women’s head swimming & diving coach Brian Barnes has resigned from his position, effective immediately, for personal and family reasons.
Barnes had been the program’s head coach for the last 6 years, including leading them to a 16th-place finish at last year’s NCAA Championship meet and coaching Emma Reaney to the American Record in the 200 yard breaststroke. Barnes plans to take at least a year away from collegiate coaching to spend time at home with his children. His wife passed away on April 18th, 2012 after a long battle with cancer.
“I’ve loved every minute that I’ve been involved with women’s swimming and diving at Notre Dame. I’ve simply come to a point where my family needs to become the top priority for me. I need to focus more of my time and attention on my two children, and realistically I cannot do that and make the commitment I would need to make with the swimming and diving program,” said Barnes, who notified his team late this afternoon, in a statement.
“I appreciate the understanding and the personal support that Jack Swarbrick and the rest of the staff have provided these last few years. My team has been great as well, and I will miss the day-to-day involvement with all of them. However, this is a decision I needed to make for my own well-being and that of my family.”
This leaves the program reeling, after assistant Kate Kovenock was announced a week ago as the new head women’s coach at Brown University.
Barnes’ impact has been felt both in and out of the pool. He has been the spearhead of an annual clinic to raise money for cancer research and treatment, having raied $45,000 in three years.
Notre Dame has not yet announced a plan for his successor. The Notre Dame website currently lists Caiming Xie as the program’s head diving coach still, with two volunteer assistants (josh Skube and Annie Eaton) plus Ryan Von Gunten, the team’s “Operations Specialist.”
Notre Dame has separate men’s and women’s programs, and long-time men’s head coach Tim Welsh retired at the end of last season.
Classes officially began at Notre Dame on August 26th.
I have respect for coach barnes love the guy it was a shock to see him go but I think he found it in his heart that his wife is really gone when u lose someone u love u get that numb feeling you don’t cry but then u get a point that u miss them Brian has had to take care of his two wonderful children and how can u blame him he’s done a wonderful job Notre Dame is gonna be fine I believe Brian will coach again when he’s ready and I know his wife is looking down on him and smiling saying babe I love u and I’m still forever in your heart I’m proud of… Read more »
I wonder if Kovenock heads back to ND?? In the end, ND is a much better team in a better conference that she helped build. She’d be a fool not to think about it if asked…
Just saying… – I think that’s probably right. At least in the short term. There are a lot of college coaches I talk to who worry about the fear of being labeled a “jumper,” that it would be a black mark on her resume if she ever wanted to move beyond Notre Dame (not that you would ever need to).
But then again, you hear that fear a lot in the workforce, mostly founded on the opinions of baby boomers. In most professions, I take it with a grain of salt, but in swimming, where there’s some level of emotional attachment, I see it as being a bigger issue.
With NCAA rules that make it infinitely easier for coaches in good standing to move from school to school than for athletes to transfer, I can understand the ‘jumper’ label being more of a concern. No AD wants to not only lose a coach that’s running the program well, but then also having a bunch athletes left behind who have real concerns with the new coach with new style and philosophy that’s then coming in.
The program has endured much worse (’92 bus crash). Notre Dame is family first and will do what’s right. Can’t imagine it would be hard to get a wonderful coach at any time in this position. Best to Brian and family.
All the best to Coach Barnes. The last few years has not been an easy road, and while I am sure it was a difficult decision, it is also an admirable one. The sport will miss you.
The timing is tough… Not sure who they can get at this late date.
maybe best bet would be to combine for a year with the men’s team and just hire another assistant…I am sure many young coaches would LOVE to work at ND
Tough timing for the team, but they’ll recover. It’s one of the strongest and wealthiest Athletic Departments in the country.
I can’t imagine how hard the past few years have been on the Barnes family. Under ideal circumstances D1 head coach is a pretty unforgiving job for your family life, and this is far from that. My heart goes out to him and his kids.
Bad timing for the team? Maybe.
But honestly, how can you criticize the man? If anything, I respect Brian more for this decision.
Life is more important than work, or even a passion such as coaching. Brian lost his wife – a terrible tragedy in itself. Ontop of that, he has to try and raise two young kids.
It’s about family, and priorities. ND swimming will be absolutely fine. Coaches should be preaching to our athletes to be better people, and that life is more important than swimming. This is a great example of such.
I say congratulations to Brian for making the right decisi
Horrible timing for that team.
Sometimes life doesn’t work around the swim season…