Jamaal Barnes

Jamaal Barnes is in his third season as an assistant coach with Purdue track & field in 2026-27. Barnes joined Purdue from Tennessee, where he was an assistant coach in 2023-24. With the Boilermakers, he assists both with the sprints and jumps. 

2025-26
Barnes guided Amarianna Lofton to Second Team All-American honors in the high jump after she finished ninth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Her 1.87m (6-01.50) clearance was second-best in school history and the top by a Boilermaker in 30 years since Corissa Yasen in 1996. She reached the podium at the Big Ten Championships outdoors tied for seventh.

In the hurdles, Barnes guided Zoe Sullivan to fourth at the Big Ten Indoor Championships in the 60mH and Zion Jackson to fifth at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships in the 110mH.

He also assisted Samuel Vessat to fourth and sixth place finished in the 400m at the NCAA Outdoor and Indoor Championships, respectively. He assisted the men’s 4x400m to fourth at NCAAs outdoor and Alexia Smith to 12th place outdoors in the 400m.

In total, Barnes helped Purdue with eight All-American campaigns and five school records.

He also assisted the men’s program to 11 points and a tie for 23rd place at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

2024-25
Barnes coached Bode Gilkerson to a 13th-place finish in the high jump at the NCAA Outdoor Championships to earn Second Team All-American. At the NCAA East First Round, Gilkerson cleared 2.18m to qualify for nationals and move to No. 10 in school history. Gilkerson came in fourth during both the Big Ten Indoor and Outdoor Championships. 

Barnes also assisted Cameron Miller to First Team All-American honors indoors and Second Team All-American honors outdoors in the 200m. Miller was the Big Ten indoor and outdoor champion in the 200m and set a school record both outdoors (20.12) and indoors (20.27). The men’s 4x400m relay team of Miller, Connor Czajkowski, Brett Otterbacher and Antoine Spencer won the Big Ten indoor title in school-record fashion (3:04.95) and earned Second Team All-American status indoors.

He also assisted Zoe Sullivan’s Second Team All-American campaign during the indoor season when she finished 12th. In total, Barnes assisted Purdue to five All-American honors, four school records and three Big Ten titles.

Before Purdue
At Tennessee, Barnes coached horizontal jumps and combined events, and led the Volunteers’ recruiting efforts. A sprinter at Auburn as a student-athlete, Barnes’ career also has included stops as an assistant coach at Louisville, Southern Miss, Georgia State and Augusta University. He also was head coach at Pratt (Kansas) Community College from 2017-19.
 
“I want to express my utmost gratitude to Coach Miller and Associate Athletics Director Calvin Williams for providing me with this opportunity,” Barnes said. “It’s an honor to be given this opportunity to work at such a prestigious university like Purdue. I’m looking forward to hitting the ground running and helping to grow this program within the confines of Coach Miller’s vision. Go Boilermakers!”
 
In his 10-year coaching career, Barnes has led his athletes to 25 All-America honors, 18 individual conference titles and 157 all-conference honors.
 
With Louisville in 2022-23, Barnes coached his athletes to two ACC titles and seven All-America finishes. He guided freshman high jumper Brion Stephens to the 2023 USATF U-20 title and a runner-up finish at the U-20 Pan American Championships.
 
In three seasons at Southern Miss from 2019-2022, Barnes helped the Eagles to back-to-back Conference USA women’s indoor team titles, in 2021 and 2022. He coached high jumper Corvell Todd to a national runner-up finish indoors in 2022 and C-USA Field Athlete of the Year accolades.
 
From 2017-19 at Pratt, Barnes led the program to its first top-25 NJCAA finish since 1983. His athletes collected 12 All-America honors and 45 school records in two years.
 
Two stints as an assistant at Georgia State, from 2014-15 and 2016-17, featured four individual Sun Belt crowns and 19 all-conference accolades. Ravin Gilbert was named Most Outstanding Women’s Track Performer under Barnes’ leadership.
 
Barnes served as an assistant and residence life assistant at D-II Augusta (Ga.) University in 2015-16. He helped his team to an individual conference title, 12 earned all-conference distinction and two were bestowed with all-region awards.

From 2011-14, Barnes’ coaching career began as associate head coach at Opelika High in Opelika, Alabama. The boys team were state runners-up in 2014 as more than 15 athletes received NCAA or NAIA scholarship offers.
 
Off the track, Barnes’ athletes have totaled 19 individual USTFCCCA All-Academic honors and seven All-Academic Team accolades.
 
A 2011 graduate of Auburn with a degree in exercise science, Barnes earned his master's in sport management from Southern Mississippi in 2022. He has achieved USATF Level 1, USTFCCCA Sprints/Hurdles/Relays and USTFCCCA Strength & Conditioning coaching certification.