University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eustachy Announces Two Staff Additions
4/15/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Eustachy Announces Two Staff Additions
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? Southern Miss Head Basketball Coach Larry Eustachy has announced the employment of two members of his coaching staff, naming Steve Barnes as the associate head basketball coach and Austin Norris as an assistant coach. The remaining assistant coach position hasn't been filled at this time and will be named at a later date.
Barnes, whose relationship with Eustachy dates back to the 1970's, most recently coached with Eustachy at Iowa State as the associate head coach in 1998-99 and 2002-03. Barnes and Eustachy were high school and college teammates at Arcadia High School, Citrus Junior College and Chico State. The pair have competed or coached together in six different settings (Arcadia High, Citrus, Chico State, Idaho, Utah State and Iowa State), including all three of Eustachy?s head coaching posts.
"I am very fortunate that Steve Barnes has joined our coaching staff," Eustachy said. "He brings a lot to the Golden Eagle basketball program and his outstanding credentials speak for themselves. As a coach, he is at the same level as any coach in Conference USA and has had numerous opportunities to go other places. But he has shown tremendous loyalty to me. When we were at Iowa State together and I stepped down, he could have stayed to become the head coach. But because of his tremendous loyalty, he stepped down with me, whether it was right or wrong. He makes our coaching staff at Southern Miss one of the best in college basketball."
Between his two stints at Iowa State, Barnes was the head coach at San Jose State University for three years, posting a 39-51 mark. He led SJSU to the school?s first back-to-back .500 seasons since the mid-1980s, going 15-15 and 14-14 in his first two campaigns. In his first season, Barnes helped lead SJSU to a fifth-place finish in the Western Athletic Conference, the best by the school since becoming a WAC member. The Spartans were 10-22 in Barnes? final season (2001-02). That year was highlighted by a 64-62 win at Iowa State that broke the Cyclones? school-record 39-game homecourt winning streak, the second-best active winning streak in the nation at the time.
Known for his recruiting prowess, Barnes reaped immediate rewards at San Jose State, assembling some of the top recruiting classes in the school's history. His 2001 SJSU recruiting class was ranked in the top 20 nationally by Clark Francis? HoopScoop. Barnes also had a key role in recruiting Iowa State All-American and 2001 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year Jamaal Tinsley, a first-round NBA draft pick in 2001.
The 46-year-old Arcadia, Calif., native has 22 years of collegiate coaching experience, including 11 at the Division I level. He only had one season with a sub-.500 record, which occurred in his final year with San Jose State.
Barnes began his coaching career in 1978 at Arcadia (Calif.) High School, his alma mater, as an assistant coach. He later became an assistant coach for the 1982 and 1983 seasons at Azusa Pacific, his collegiate alma mater. While in college, he played one season at Azusa Pacific, leading his squad to a 25-10 record as a senior and earning his bachelor?s degree in 1985.
He received his first head coaching job at Capistrano (Calif.) Christian High School in 1984, before returning to the college level at Saddleback College in 1985 as an assistant coach. Barnes spent two seasons there, finishing in second place at the California Community College state championship tournament in 1987.
He spent the 1987-88 season at Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo, before joining Kermit Davis? Idaho staff in 1988 as an assistant coach. In his first two years at Idaho, the Vandals won two Big Sky Championships and made two NCAA Tournament appearances. After Davis departed in 1990, Barnes stayed on staff at Idaho, working with Eustachy. That stint marked the first time the two worked together as collegiate coaches. The pair coached three years together at Idaho, winning the Big Sky Conference Championship with a 24-8 record in 1993.
Barnes and Eustachy continued their coaching relationship in 1994, as Barnes served as the associate head coach at Utah State for two years. Following the 1994 season, Barnes left the Aggies to become an assistant at Division II Cal State Bakersfield. The Roadrunners made NCAA Tournament appearances both years, including a 26-4 mark in 1996. In his short time at CSU-Bakersfield, Barnes recruited first-team All-American and 1996 Division II Player of the Year Kebu Stewart.
Barnes again teamed with Eustachy at Utah State as the associate head coach in 1997. The pair spent two more seasons with the Aggies, sharing the Big West Conference regular-season title in 1997, and finishing with a 25-8 record in 1998, capturing the outright title and earning an NCAA berth.
Barnes left with Eustachy and headed to Iowa State in 1998. The Cyclones went 15-15 in Eustachy?s first season, led by first-team All-Big 12 selection and future All-American Marcus Fizer. Barnes left ISU in 1999 when he took the head job at San Jose State.
Barnes was born in Frankfurt, Germany, on June 22, 1957. He spent his youth growing up in North Carolina, before moving to Arcadia, Calif. He and his wife, Judy, a native of Folsom, Calif., are the parents of two children, Megan (18) and Josh (16).
Norris comes to Southern Miss after serving as a basketball graduate assistant at the University of Wyoming for the past year. He was involved in all aspects of the program from assisting in the planning, organizing and running practices and individual workouts, to tracking the student-athletes' academic progress, to overseeing the mailouts to the prospective student-athletes, to organizing and handling the computerized scouting of opponents. He also planned, organized and ran the basketball camps.
Prior to his stint at Wyoming, Norris served for more than three years as an assistant coach at Des Moines Area Community College in Des Moines, Iowa. While there, Des Moines Area Community College posted an 84-16 record, ranked in the top 10 nationally for three-straight seasons and the 2002 team finished fourth at the national tournament.
For 10 consecutive weeks in the 2001-02 season, Des Moines was the No. 1 ranked team in the country in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) rankings. Des Moines concluded the 2001-02 season finishing fourth in the country. He assisted in coaching two teams to conference championships, and coached three NJCAA All-Americans.
Prior to serving as an assistant coach at the junior college level, Norris was a student assistant at his alma mater, Iowa State University, for the 1998-99 and the 1999-2000 seasons. The 1999-2000 season saw the Cyclones win the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles. Iowa State culminated the 1999-00 season by advancing to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
Norris served as a basketball student assistant while going to school at Indian Hill Community College during the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons. Duing that time, Indian Hills posted a 76-1 record and won back-to-back national championships.
Norris earned his bachelor of science degree in sport management from Iowa State in 2001. He is married to the former Jennifer Buckley.
"Austin is a young and energetic coach who has a bright future ahead of him," Eustachy said. "He was a student manager for me at Iowa State and did an outstanding job. He's a tremendous worker and has been very loyal to me."
