Northwestern State University of Louisana

Northwestern State (1994-99)
Year	Record	Conference - Finish	Postseason
1994-95	13-14	Southland - 6th
1995-96	5-21	Southland - 10th
1996-97	13-15	Southland - 4th
1997-98	13-14	Southland - 2nd
1998-99	11-15	Southland - 7th
University of Tulsa (1985-1991)
1990-91	18-12	Missouri Valley - 3rd	NIT
1989-90	17-13	Missouri Valley - 2nd (tie)	NIT
1988-89	18-13	Missouri Valley - 2nd
1987-88	8-20	Missouri Valley - 7th
1986-87	22-8	Missouri Valley - 1st	NCAA
1985-86	23-9	Missouri Valley - 2nd	NCAA
Virginia Commonwealth (1979-1985)
1984-885	26-6	Sun Belt - 1st	NCAA
1983-84	23-7	Sun Belt - 1st	NCAA
1982-83	24-7	Sun Belt - 1st	NCAA
1981-82	17-11	Sun Belt - 2nd
1980-81	24-5	Sun Belt - 1st (tie)	NCAA
1979-80	18-12	Sun Belt - 5th	NCAA
Louisiana Tech (1977-79)
1978-79	17-8	Southland Conference - 2nd
1977-78	6-21	Southland Conference - 6th

J.D. Barnett, who has led Northwestern State to unprecedented success in the Southland Conference in each of the past two seasons, is beginning his fifth season in charge of Northwestern State's basketball program.

The fiery 54-year-old is nationally-known for his "ball-line" defensive schemes, which became prominent last season as Barnett's former player and assistant coach, Tubby Smith, utilized them while leading Kentucky to the NCAA championship.

Barnett himself has guided seven teams into the NCAA Tournament as head coach at Virginia commonwealth and Tulsa.

Last year, Northwestern notched its highest finish, second, in 11 years of SLC competition. The 1997-98 Demons also set a school high-water mark for Southland play by winning 10 league games. The team posted the longest win streak, six straight, since Northwestern joined the NCAA Division I ranks in 1976-77.

A year earlier, he guided a team picked for 10th in preseason to fourth place -- at the time, the best performance in SLC play by the Demons -- and only the program's third appearance in 10 seasons in the Century Cellunet SLC Classic semifinals. In his first year, Barnett steered an undermanned squad to the Demons' best start, an 8-3 record, in 29 seasons.

He has served for the past two years as a coaching consultant to the Latvian Noational team, traveling last summer to the European Basketball Championships in Barcelona.

Barnett, in his 21st season as a collegiate head coach, has an overall record of 335-236 (.588) entering the season. He is only the eighth coach in the 840year history of the men's basketball program at Northwestern.

He has a Division 1 career record of 306-213 (.591) beginning his 19th season at the major college level, with nind postseason tournament appearances in 18 seasons as head coach at Northwestern, Tulsa (1985-91), Virginia Commonwealth to the NCAA Tournament in five of his six seasons in charge. Tulsa made two more trips to the National Invitational Tournament in 1990 and 1991.

Barnett has won four "Coach of the Year" awards in three conferences -- Missouri Valley, Sun Belt and Southland. He was athletic director of Union School District in Tulsa from 1991-94 after leaving coaching following an 18-12 season and a trip to the NIT in 1991 at Tulsa.

He is the career coaching victory leader at VCU with 135 wins and just 48 losses (.737) and won two Sun Belt Conference "Coach of the Year" awards. VCU was ranked 11th nationally in both major college basketball polls during the 1985 season. Barnett was inducted into the VCU Athletic Hall of Fame in December 1996.

Career Coaching Record
Years	School	Record	Pct.
6	Tulsa	107-73	.594
6	Virginia Commonwealth	132-48	.733
2	Louisiana Tech	23-29	.442
4	Northwestern State	55-79	.410
18	Division I only	317-229	.581
1	Lenoir Rhyne	17-9	.654
1	High Point	12-14	.461
20	All Games	346-252	.579

At Tulsa, he guided the Golden hurricane to a 107-73 (.594) record which included Missouri Valley conference titles in 1986 and 1987 and the conference tournament title in 1986.  Named Missouri Valley "Coach of the Year: in 1986, he ranks fourth in coaching victories in the 81-year history of basketball at Tulsa.

Former Barnett assistant coaches Flip Saunders and Don Zierden and ex-VCU star player Calvin Duncan have been CBA head coaches. Duncan was the CBA "Coach of the Year" in 1994 while Saunders twice won that award. Saunders awaits his fourth season in the NBA as head coach and general manager of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who reached the playoffs for the last two seasons and are one of the league's up and coming teams.

Kentucky's Smith was Barnett's assistant coach at Tulsa and Virginia Commonwealth and played for Barnett at High Point College. smith guided Kentucky to the national title last season after leading Georgia to the Final 8 in 1996, and led Tulsa to the Sweet 16 in the 1995 NCAAs.

Kevin O'Neill, who revived a dormant Marquette program, is another former Barnett assistant coach at VCU. He now coaches at the Big 10 Conference's Northwestern.

Former Alabama head coach David Hobbs, whose team reached postseason tournaments in three of the last four seasons, began his coaching career on Barnett's staff at VCU.

Kevin Eastman, who took Washington State to two straight NIT appearances after three successful seasons at North Carolina-Wilmington, was part of Barnett's staffs at VCU and Tulsa.

Barnett has been a voting member of the coaches' Top 25 national rankings and has served on the National Association of Basketball Coaches' Rules Recommendation Committee.

His wife, Susan is a popular instructor in NSU's psychology department and a fitness buff. The couple has two daughters, Tonja and Brooke.

Tonja was an honors graduate in 1997 and Northeast Oklahoma University, earned an education degree last spring from Northwestern State and is a junior high teacher. Brooke, an all-star summer league softball player, is a senior at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts.