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Coach Profile

Gary Barnett

1992-2005 • Colorado, Northwestern

2 schools coached, anchored by Colorado.

Gary Barnett's coaching record is 84-83-1, highlighted by seasons at Colorado from 1992 to 2005.

Gary Barnett coached 14 seasons, won 50.3%, and posted an average SRS of 4.2. Best season: 1995 Northwestern. The profile was offense-first with a highly volatile profile. 2 stints shaped the career arc.

Compare this coachAll coach recordsRanked opponent recordJump to seasons
Career record
84-83-1
Career win rate
50.3%
Average SRS
4.2
Peak SRS
20.7

Career Dossier

One glance at the full arc.

The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.

Seasons coached
14
Career span
14 years
Best finish
#8
Consistency
32.4

Primary school anchor

Colorado

Offense-First profile with 2 program stops and a peak score of 85.6.

Quick Answers

Records fans search first

Headline records use countable season rows after completed-game fallback. Partial seasons and provisional placeholders are called out separately.

Compare Gary Barnett
Overall record
84-83-1

168 countable games, 50.3% win rate.

Colorado record
49-38

7 countable seasons at Colorado.

Full-season record
77-78-1

13 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.

Partial-season record
7-5

Rows where the coach-season record covers fewer games than the team's completed season.

Vs AP Top 25
18-38-1

57 games using AP ranking at game time.

Vs AP Top 10
5-23

28 games using AP ranking at game time.

Vs AP Top 5
2-12

14 games using AP ranking at game time.

Vs Colorado State
3-3

Rocky Mountain Showdown games in this dataset.

Postseason / bowl record
2-4

6 scored postseason games in this dataset.

CFP record
0-0

0 College Football Playoff-labeled games since 2014.

National titles
0

Matched by coach team-season against the national championship dataset.

Record definition and data status

Career records use countable coach-season rows. Zero-game placeholders are excluded from aggregates until a completed-game fallback can verify the record.

Completed-game fallback uses scored games joined by coach, team, and season; advanced ratings are left blank when the season summary has not supplied them.

Latest completed coached game in this dataset: Dec 27, 2005. Current and future zero-game placeholders are kept visible but excluded from headline records.

Career Arc

Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.

Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.

Gary Barnett
EliteStrongAverageLean
Gary Barnett: 1999 Colorado
1992Actual season year • SRS range -8.2 to 20.72005

Active comparison point

Gary Barnett • 1995

Selected

1995 Northwestern

Best seasonBiggest improvement

10-2 • SRS 20.7 • SP Overall 24.7

Win %

83.3%

YoY SRS

+21.8

SP Off / Def

36.2 / 12.0

Finish

#8

Comparison context

Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.

Ranked opponent record

Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.

Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.

Poll source
Ranking timing

Top 25

18-38-1

Games
57
Win rate
32.5%

Top 10

5-23

Games
28
Win rate
17.9%

Top 5

2-12

Games
14
Win rate
14.3%
View ranked game results57
2004 Regular Week 15ColoradoOklahoma#2L3-42
2004 Regular Week 10ColoradoTexas#8L7-31
2004 Regular Week 9ColoradoTexas A&M#17L26-29
2004 Regular Week 7ColoradoOklahoma State#22L14-42
2003 Regular Week 15ColoradoNebraska#25L22-31
2003 Regular Week 12ColoradoMissouri#22W21-16
2003 Regular Week 10ColoradoOklahoma#1L20-34
2003 Regular Week 5ColoradoFlorida State#10L7-47
2002 Regular Week 16ColoradoOklahoma#8L7-29
2002 Regular Week 11ColoradoOklahoma#2L11-27
2002 Regular Week 7ColoradoKansas State#13W35-31
2002 Regular Week 5ColoradoUCLA#20W31-17
2002 Regular Week 4ColoradoUSC#17L3-40
2001 Regular Week 15ColoradoTexas#3W39-37
2001 Regular Week 14ColoradoNebraska#2W62-36
2001 Regular Week 8ColoradoTexas A&M#25W31-21
2001 Regular Week 7ColoradoKansas State#12W16-6
2001 Regular Week 2ColoradoColorado State#24W41-14
2001 Postseason Week 1ColoradoOregon#2L16-38
2000 Regular Week 14ColoradoNebraska#9L32-34
2000 Regular Week 8ColoradoTexas#25L14-28
2000 Regular Week 6ColoradoKansas State#5L21-44
2000 Regular Week 4ColoradoWashington#9L14-17
2000 Regular Week 3ColoradoUSC#11L14-17
1999 Regular Week 14ColoradoNebraska#3L30-33
1999 Regular Week 11ColoradoKansas State#6L14-20
1999 Regular Week 10ColoradoOklahoma#24W38-24
1998 Regular Week 12NorthwesternPenn State#16L10-41
1998 Regular Week 9NorthwesternOhio State#1L10-36
1998 Regular Week 5NorthwesternWisconsin#13L7-38
1997 Regular Week 13NorthwesternIowa#22W15-14
1997 Regular Week 11NorthwesternPenn State#2L27-30
1997 Regular Week 10NorthwesternOhio State#9L6-49
1997 Regular Week 9NorthwesternMichigan State#12W19-17
1997 Regular Week 8NorthwesternMichigan#6L6-23
1996 Regular Week 12NorthwesternIowa#23W40-13
1996 Regular Week 11NorthwesternPenn State#15L9-34
1996 Regular Week 7NorthwesternMichigan#6W17-16
1996 Postseason Week 1NorthwesternTennessee#9L28-48
1995 Regular Week 11NorthwesternPenn State#12W21-10
1995 Regular Week 9NorthwesternWisconsin#24W35-0
1995 Regular Week 7NorthwesternMichigan#7W19-13
1995 Regular Week 2NorthwesternNotre Dame#9W17-15
1995 Postseason Week 1NorthwesternUSC#12L32-41
1994 Regular Week 13NorthwesternPenn State#2L17-45
1994 Regular Week 7NorthwesternWisconsin#24L14-46
1994 Regular Week 6NorthwesternOhio State#20L15-17
1994 Regular Week 3NorthwesternStanford#24T41-41
1994 Regular Week 2NorthwesternNotre Dame#3L15-42
1993 Regular Week 13NorthwesternPenn State#14L21-43
1993 Regular Week 7NorthwesternWisconsin#21L14-53
1993 Regular Week 6NorthwesternOhio State#7L3-51
1993 Regular Week 4NorthwesternBoston College#22W22-21
1993 Regular Week 2NorthwesternNotre Dame#7L12-27
1992 Regular Week 11NorthwesternMichigan#4L7-40
1992 Regular Week 4NorthwesternStanford#18L24-35
1992 Regular Week 2NorthwesternNotre Dame#3L7-42

Tenure map

Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.

Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint

Colorado

1999-2005 • 7 seasons

Avg SRS 7.1 • Win % 56.3%

Northwestern

1992-1998 • 7 seasons

Avg SRS 1.3 • Win % 43.8%

Longest tenure
Colorado • 7 seasons
Best tenure
Colorado • 7.1 SRS
Best tenure win rate
Colorado • 56.3%

Style and Strength Profile

Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.

These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.

Overall Strength

Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.

Gary Barnett sets the reference point in overall strength.

Overall Strength

Decisive edge

Gary Barnett sets the reference point in overall strength.

Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.

Gary Barnett

Strong

Raw avg SP Overall
6.9
Percentile
77th pct

Strong

Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.

Impact by school

See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.

Colorado

1999-2005 • 49-38

Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).

Avg SRS 7.1Win % 56.3%

Avg wins

Higher is better

7.0 during vs 8.8 baseline

-1.8

Avg SRS

Higher is better

7.3 during vs 15.6 baseline

-8.4

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

12.0 during vs 20.2 baseline

-8.2

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

33.3% during vs 60.0% baseline

-26.7%

Northwestern

1992-1998 • 35-45-1

Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).

Avg SRS 1.3Win % 43.8%

Avg wins

Higher is better

5.0 during vs 1.8 baseline

+3.2

Avg SRS

Higher is better

1.3 during vs -11.8 baseline

+13.1

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

1.8 during vs -16.3 baseline

+18.1

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

28.6% during vs 0.0% baseline

+28.6%

Career highs and lows

High Points

Best Season

Northwestern 1995

10-2 • SRS 20.7

Biggest Improvement

Northwestern 1995

10-2 • 21.8 SRS

Best Offensive Season

Colorado 2001

10-3 • SP Off 42.6

Best Defensive Season

Northwestern 1995

10-2 • SP Def 12.0

Setbacks

Lowest SRS Season

Northwestern 1992

3-8 • SRS -8.2

Biggest Drop

Colorado 2003

5-7 • -12.8 SRS

Season-by-season results

Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.

Colorado20051275058.3%——5.811.727.816.1+1.9-3.2%Partial season
Colorado20041385061.5%——3.97.832.927.0+4.0+19.9%Season summary
Colorado20031257041.7%——-0.12.637.735.3-12.8-22.6%Season summary
Colorado20021495064.3%#7#2012.719.840.022.5-0.5-12.6%Season summary
Colorado200113103076.9%—#913.220.242.625.4+7.8+49.6%Season summary
Colorado20001138027.3%#24—5.410.134.025.6-3.2-31.1%Season summary
Colorado19991275058.3%#15—8.611.340.732.4+15.4+33.3%Season summary
Northwestern19981239025.0%——-6.8-9.024.232.3-8.3-16.7%Season summary
Northwestern19971257041.7%——1.53.128.126.1-6.4-33.3%Season summary
Northwestern19961293075.0%#18#157.98.234.628.2-12.8-8.3%Season summary
Northwestern199512102083.3%—#820.724.736.212.0+21.8+51.5%Season summary
Northwestern19941137131.8%——-1.1-1.430.532.3+3.8+13.6%Season summary
Northwestern19931129018.2%——-4.9-6.725.932.3+3.3-9.1%Season summary
Northwestern19921138027.3%——-8.2-6.327.633.4——Season summary

Similar coaches

Popular comparisons are fan-facing matchups. Statistical comps are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.

Statistical comps

Sonny Dykes

same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.1

Offense-First

Avg SRS 4.1 • Peak SRS 16.7 • 15 seasons

Best finish #2 • Volatility 7.5

Open profile →

Tyrone Willingham

same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.4

Offense-First

Avg SRS 3.8 • Peak SRS 11.7 • 14 seasons

Best finish #16 • Volatility 6.7

Open profile →

Clay Helton

same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.1

Offense-First

Avg SRS 4.3 • Peak SRS 19.4 • 12 seasons

Best finish #3 • Volatility 9.6

Open profile →

Todd Graham

same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.9

Offense-First

Avg SRS 3.3 • Peak SRS 22.3 • 14 seasons

Best finish #12 • Volatility 8.6

Open profile →

Paul Johnson

same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.3

Offense-First

Avg SRS 4.5 • Peak SRS 18.5 • 17 seasons

Best finish #8 • Volatility 7.0

Open profile →

Spike Dykes

same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.1

Offense-First

Avg SRS 4.3 • Peak SRS 12.8 • 14 seasons

Best finish #19 • Volatility 4.9

Open profile →