Matt Barnes enters his third season leading a new chapter for St. Mary's Men's Soccer.

In 2017, Barnes helped lead the Rattlers to one of their most successful seasons on record, advancing to the second round of the Heartland Conference Championship following a 2-0 upset shutout of No. 3 seed West Texas A&M in the opening round. 

Barnes, previously of San Francisco State, is an experienced and well-connected leader who has turned around three collegiate programs.  

THE BARNES FILE
College: Judson (Illinois) (1994)   Hometown: Bakersfield, California   Experience: 3rd Year (8th Overall)
HONORS
NCAA D-II National Champion 1997 (Cal-State Bakersfield, Assistant Coach)
California Pacific Conference Coach of the Year  2012
YEAR-BY-YEAR REVIEW
Year	Record	Highlights
ERAU
2011	9-8-3
2012	14-3-3	California Pacific Conf. Champion
LCU
2013	11-5-1	Heartland Conf. 1st-Place Finish
SF State
2014	8-7-3
2015	7-6-4
St. Mary's
2016	5-10-2
2017	10-9-1	Heartland Tournament Appearance
Career
7 Yrs.	64-48-17	California Pacific Conf. Champion,
		Heartland Conf. 1st-Place Finish

 
Barnes, 45, has coached on a NCAA Division II national-championship-winning staff and in the professional ranks — and he arrives in South Texas as no stranger to the Rattlers' Heartland Conference, having led conference foe Lubbock Christian to the best record in the league in 2013. 

"I think everybody knows what a great school St. Mary's is," Barnes said. "Obviously there has been a lot of success here across the board in Athletics."

Barnes, who came to St. Mary's having never endured a single losing season at any level as a head coach, has also coached in the summers in the USL Premier Development League. There, he has served as the head coach of the Midland/Odessa Sockers FC, which enjoyed its best season in club history in 2016, qualifying for the league's final four for the first time. Formerly one of the league's lower-ranking programs, the Sockers captured their first-ever Southern Conference Championship under Barnes. He is also assigned as a USL regional scouts.

Barnes has a history of turning around programs, having most recently done so at San Francisco State, where he inherited a 3-14-1 team in 2014 and promptly led the school to its first winning season (8-7-3) in nearly two decades. He went on to lead the program to a second consecutive winning season, finishing 7-6-4 last fall to give the school back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in 35 years. 

Barnes took over a Rattler program that went 8-9 in 2015 after posting its first winning season in 12 years in 2014.

"I've been very fortunate being able to step into three different programs, and now a fourth, with a specific game plan about how to go about turning things around and handle the growth of the program," said Barnes, a native of Bakersfield, California. "But my family and my staff, we're ready to settle in and build. This was another reason we came to St. Mary's.

"This is a place I can be at home for a while. We know how to turn around programs and we know how to find success, but I'm excited because it's time in my career to build."

A collegiate All-American and Academic All-American at Judson University, Barnes has a career record of 49-29-14 in the collegiate ranks to go along with a 175-61-41 record at the high-school level.

At San Francisco State, Barnes led the program to numerous highs, including the fewest goals-against mark in its 75-year history, longest unbeaten streak since 1980 and most shutouts (nine) in a single season. Last season, he led the school to a regional ranking and also ranked 11th in the nation statistically in goals-against average.

While at Lubbock Christian in 2013, Barnes' squad posted the top record in the Heartland Conference, going 8-1 in league play to go along with an 11-5-1 overall record. The Chaps defeated three nationally ranked teams and received their first regional ranking that season, while also setting a number of school records such as most shutouts in a season, most consecutive victories and fewest goals against. As a provisional member of the Heartland and the NCAA that season, the Chaps were not eligible for the Heartland Conference championship. 

Previously, Barnes directed Embry Riddle Aeronautical University to a 14-3-3 record and the California Pacific Conference championship in 2012, qualifying for the NAIA national championships in the process. Embry Riddle received its first top-25 ranking in program history.  He was named the California Pacific Coach of the Year that season, which marked the end of a two-year stint at the school that saw him compile a 23-11-6 record.

As an assistant coach, Barnes helped lead CSU Bakersfield to the 1997 NCAA Division II national championship.

Coaching at the Sockers FC, Barnes' team is 7-2-3 on the season and is chasing a second consecutive playoff bid after securing its first postseason appearance since 2009 a year ago. He holds a 20-8-6 over three seasons leading the Midland/Odessa club.  Barnes led the Sockers to the franchise's first U.S. Open Cup qualification and appearance in 2015.  

Barnes says returning to the Lone Star State on the collegiate level felt like a natural fit.

"I'm familiar with almost every single coach in the conference," he said. "I'm familiar with the sites, the away fields and the recruiting circuit. It feels like home, to be honest."

Barnes' immense connections in the area figure to serve the St. Mary's program well. 

A former professional soccer player himself, Barnes is good friends with Nick Evans, the new pro academy director at San Antonio FC, and at Lubbock Christian he also coached former San Antonio Scorpions player Billy Forbes.

"I'm especially excited about coming to the San Antonio community," he said upon arriving on campus. "It's got some of the best youth soccer in the state. I think it's been untapped at St. Mary's in general. … I look forward to growing relationships. 

"I am really intent on coming to San Antonio and making St. Mary's a place where local student-athletes and families aspire to be."

As a collegiate player at Judson University, Barnes played on NCCAA national championship teams in 1991 and 1992, and earned NCCAA All-American, NAIA All-Region and NIIC All-Conference honors. In 2009, Barnes was inducted into the Judson University Hall of Fame for his excellence on the field, which included setting the NAIA record for most points in a game (20). He went on to play one season professionally for the Rockford Raptors of the USISL. 

Barnes holds two degrees, a B.A. in Physical Education and General Science from Judson University and a M.S. in Special Education from National University in La Jolla, California. 

Barnes and his wife, Morgan, have a son, Monroe, and a newborn daughter.