Pitt Hires Barnes as Athletic Director
By: Andrew Stern
In a 3 PM press conference, in the William Pitt Union, the University of Pittsburgh announced that Scott Barnes has been hired as the University’s next Athletic Director.
Barnes, 53, was the Athletic Director for Utah State University for the past seven seasons. Before Utah State, Barnes was the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Advancement at the University of Washington.
In total, Barnes has spent the better part of the last three decades in College Athletics. Barnes was a college athlete himself, playing two years of basketball at Fresno State, where he led the Bulldogs to an NCAA Tournament appearance.
After his playing days were over, Barnes latched on with the University of San Diego as the Director of Athletic Development.
While the majority of Barnes’ experience is on the west coast, the Spokane native did spend four years at Iowa State University.
In his time at Utah State, Barnes’ achievements were numerous and extremely impressive. When he arrived in Logan, the Football program and the Athletic Department were a mess.
In his seven years at Utah State, the Aggies won 20 total Conference titles, and even reached #16 in the final Associated Press Football Poll of 2012.
Back in 2013-14, Barnes was named the Under Armour Athletics Director of the year due in large part to his ability to secure a lucrative merchandising deal with Nike, and his success in moving the Aggies from the Western Athletic Conference to the Mountain West Conference.
In addition, Barnes secured a $5.25 million donation to build the Wayne Estes Center, a $3.75 million donation to build the ICON Sports Performance Center, and five donations of at least one million dollars.
Barnes will replace former Athletic Director Steve Pederson who agreed to part ways with the University back in December.
This will be the third time Barnes will be the athletic director, but the first time at a “Power Five” school. Barnes was previously the Athletic Director at Eastern Washington from 1999-2005.
In addition to being a student athlete himself, Barnes’ wife Jody was an excellent Track and Field athlete at Fresno State. He and his wife, have two children- Milanna (18) and Isaac (16).
Milanna was a key contributor to the Utah State Women’s Basketball team this past season, while the couples son, Isaac, is also a basketball player.
Barnes will officially assume the role on July 1st.
