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Lebenslauf Jim Barnes

Jim Barnes
Head Football Coach
Augustana College

Bio Information

Jim Barnes will be entering his ninth season as the head football coach at Augustana College. An alumnus of Augustana, Barnes has compiled an overall record of 60-23 and now stands third all-time in wins at his alma mater. In eight seasons, he has guided the Vikings to three College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin titles and participated in two NCAA Division III playoffs. Overall, Barnes has a record of 97 wins against 36 losses for a winning percentage of .722.

Prior to coming back to Augustana and in his initial opportunity as a head coach, Barnes led an effort to revive the football program at the College of Wooster in Ohio. Barnes took over a Fighting Scot program that had been 1-9 in 1994. In the following two seasons, he led the team to records of 5-5 and 7-3. In 1997, he pushed the Scots to a 9-1 mark - their best in 74 years - and a share of the North Coast Athletic Conference title, their first in almost 40 years. During his tenure at Wooster, Barnes compiled a glossy record of 37-13, the best winning percentage in the history of the school and was the first to post three consecutive eight-victory seasons. In his five years his teams established over 40 team and individual records.

Last summer, the Augustana Vikings took their third trip involving international competition. After competing in a scrimmage against the Prague Lions earlier in the week, the Augustana Vikings scored an impressive victory over the Vienna Vikings 41-14 who went on to later win the Euro Bowl Championship. In the summer of 2004, Coach Barnes led Augustana as they toured Italy and defeated the Lazio Marines 50-6. In the summer of 1999, the Vikings of Augustana traveled and competed in Scandinavia. On that trip, they were lead by Coach Tom Schmulbach, currently on the Augustana staff.

In the past three seasons, the Vikings have won two conference championships. In 2005 they advanced in the national playoffs with a 49-22 victory in the first round before falling to eventual National Champion Mount Union College in the next round.
Barnes has served as both the Offensive Coordinator (2001-2004) and Defensive Coordinator at Augustana (2000, 2005-2008). Offensively, Augustana has long been known for a bruising rushing game. The "Augustana Wing-T" established by legendary and Hall of Fame Augustana coach Bob Reade became a national phenomenon when Augustana won four national championships with it in the 1980s. Fifteen playoff appearances and seventeen conference championships later, the style still has great value and roots in the important fundamentals of the game. In the past eight years, Augustana has been in the top five in the nation in rushing six times. This past spring, the Vikings installed extensively more 'spread' concepts into their offensive schemes.
Defensively, the Vikings were 9th in the nation in Total Defense in 2007. In previous years the Vikings have ranked as high as 5th and 6th nationally in Scoring Defense and Total Defense.

As a player, Barnes was a three-year starter at defensive back and served as team captain as a senior and earned all-conference honors. The Vikings won the final four games of his senior year, starting a remarkable regular season unbeaten streak of 70 games that continued through the 1988 campaign. In the spring of 1981, he was the winner of the Knut Erickson Award, which is given to the four-year athlete with the highest grade point average. After graduating from Augustana magna cum laude, he went to law school at the University of Illinois, earning his Juris Doctor degree in May of 1985. After serving as an attorney for over a year, Barnes decided to take advantage of an opportunity to return to football, this time as a coach.