[ HPU BASKETBALL ]
HPU hires Barnett as
A.D., hoops coachThe veteran coach has made
seven NCAA appearances
Hawaii Pacific is turning back the clock in the hopes of reclaiming its past glory.
The Sea Warriors appointed 60-year-old J.D. Barnett as their athletic director and basketball coach yesterday, ignoring the five years he has spent away from the game and focusing on the seven NCAA Tournament appearances he has made. And Barnett is looking forward to the challenge.
"It was actually the first basketball job I've ever applied for," Barnett said. "I've always enjoyed visiting there, I will enjoy it more living there."
HPU is the only school in Hawaii to win a national championship in college basketball, taking the NAIA crown under Tony Sellitto in 1993. Sellitto handed the reins to Russell Dung two years ago. Dung resigned following a 9-17 season last year.
This will be Barnett's fifth decade of coaching basketball. He has coached for six different programs and has taken two of them to the NCAA Tournament, going 4-5 in four trips to the big dance for Virginia Commonwealth from 1980 to 1985 and losing in the first round in two trips as the boss at Tulsa in 1986 and 1987. He hasn't coached since 1999, when he saw a five-year run at Northwestern State end with a 55-79 record. He also coached at Louisiana Tech in 1978-79 and smaller schools before that.
Barnett has been spending the time away from the floor as an administrator at Tulane, sharpening his skills as an associate athletic director with an eye toward a job of his own. He found it in Hawaii, where he will take on the dual roles -- rare throughout the college ranks but common in Hawaii. Currently both Brigham Young-Hawaii and Chaminade have one person filling the dual roles.
"How many A.D./basketball coach jobs are there in the U.S.?" Barnett asked. "Not many. The dual role was a big part of my decision. I feel like I have enough skills to coach basketball, but I am anxious to develop the skill set that comes with impacting kids' lives as an athletic director."
At this point in his career, Barnett is known better as a mentor than as a coach. Kentucky's Tubby Smith was an assistant under Barnett for six years and Barnett's fingerprint is on programs at all levels. Smith and NBA coaches Larry Brown, Hubie Brown and Maurice Cheeks all called the school yesterday to praise the decision to hire Barnett, according to HPU Vice President E. Rick Stepien.
Barnett was already recruiting yesterday, saying that his challenges are building his list of contacts back up and getting back into the recruiting process. The decision of who to add to his list of fabled assistants -- and everything else -- can wait until he is confident he can put a competitive team on the floor this year.
"Everything is open," Barnett said. "I'll talk to Russell (Dung) and ask him to stay on if that's what he'd like to do, and I'll do the same with (current assistant) Darrell (Matsui). Everything is open. Right now my only focus is to get two players recruited before the season starts."
Barnett called Hawaii coach Riley Wallace before applying for the job, and has a friend in the only Division I men's coach in the state.
"He brings immediate attention to that program because he's J.D. Barnett," Wallace said. "He's somewhat of a legend across the country as a coach, he's just been out of it awhile. They're lucky to get a guy like him; his name recognition is tremendous."
Barnett says he has his own basketball philosophy that centers on defense, rebounding and taking care of the ball. His philosophy as an athletic director will center on "athletes supporting athletes" and building a team off the court.
But it is Barnett's ability as an instructor that sets him apart.
"He's a good fundamental teacher," Wallace said. "There's only one way to play if you play for J.D. If you don't play hard, you're not going to play. He's a guy with a lot of experience that's going to demand that you give him the time and the effort. His teams will be very efficient.
"They've got a guy who will work. He works more than the 24 hours allowed in a day."
Barnett may need the extra time given the challenges faced by HPU, which doesn't have its own facilities and struggles for attendance in a conference dominated by BYUH in recent years. Barnett believes he is up to the task.
"Every place has its challenges, and not having a place to call your own is one of the challenges at Hawaii Pacific," Barnett said. "But if I can't take my years of experience and overcome those challenges, I shouldn't be doing this."
Barnett says he was sold on the job by the vision and the enthusiasm of Stepien and President Chatt Wright, that no school wins on the floor without support from the highest levels. Wright believes that he has found the man to take it beyond the level it has been at under Sellitto.
"J.D. Barnett has a wealth of experience and success at all levels of college athletics," Wright said in a release. "We are very pleased to have him on board. His management and coaching credentials are exceptional, and I am absolutely confident that he will take the entire Sea Warrior athletic program to new levels of success."