Top 25
18-42-1
- Games
- 61
- Win rate
- 30.3%
Back to Coaches
Peak DominatorOffense-FirstLong Career
Coach Profile
Gary Barnett
1992-2005 • Colorado, Northwestern
2 schools coached, anchored by Colorado.
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.
- 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.
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
1995 Northwestern
Best seasonBiggest improvement10-2 • 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.
Top 10
5-25
- Games
- 30
- Win rate
- 16.7%
Top 5
2-14
- Games
- 16
- Win rate
- 12.5%
View ranked game results61
| 2005 Regular Week 14 | Colorado | Texas | #2 | L3-70 |
| 2005 Regular Week 7 | Colorado | Texas | #2 | L17-42 |
| 2005 Regular Week 4 | Colorado | Miami | #12 | L3-23 |
| 2005 Postseason Week 1 | Colorado | Clemson | #21 | L10-19 |
| 2004 Regular Week 15 | Colorado | Oklahoma | #2 | L3-42 |
| 2004 Regular Week 10 | Colorado | Texas | #8 | L7-31 |
| 2004 Regular Week 9 | Colorado | Texas A&M | #17 | L26-29 |
| 2004 Regular Week 7 | Colorado | Oklahoma State | #22 | L14-42 |
| 2003 Regular Week 15 | Colorado | Nebraska | #25 | L22-31 |
| 2003 Regular Week 12 | Colorado | Missouri | #22 | W21-16 |
| 2003 Regular Week 10 | Colorado | Oklahoma | #1 | L20-34 |
| 2003 Regular Week 5 | Colorado | Florida State | #10 | L7-47 |
| 2002 Regular Week 16 | Colorado | Oklahoma | #8 | L7-29 |
| 2002 Regular Week 11 | Colorado | Oklahoma | #2 | L11-27 |
| 2002 Regular Week 7 | Colorado | Kansas State | #13 | W35-31 |
| 2002 Regular Week 5 | Colorado | UCLA | #20 | W31-17 |
| 2002 Regular Week 4 | Colorado | USC | #17 | L3-40 |
| 2001 Regular Week 15 | Colorado | Texas | #3 | W39-37 |
| 2001 Regular Week 14 | Colorado | Nebraska | #2 | W62-36 |
| 2001 Regular Week 8 | Colorado | Texas A&M | #25 | W31-21 |
| 2001 Regular Week 7 | Colorado | Kansas State | #12 | W16-6 |
| 2001 Regular Week 2 | Colorado | Colorado State | #24 | W41-14 |
| 2001 Postseason Week 1 | Colorado | Oregon | #2 | L16-38 |
| 2000 Regular Week 14 | Colorado | Nebraska | #9 | L32-34 |
| 2000 Regular Week 8 | Colorado | Texas | #25 | L14-28 |
| 2000 Regular Week 6 | Colorado | Kansas State | #5 | L21-44 |
| 2000 Regular Week 4 | Colorado | Washington | #9 | L14-17 |
| 2000 Regular Week 3 | Colorado | USC | #11 | L14-17 |
| 1999 Regular Week 14 | Colorado | Nebraska | #3 | L30-33 |
| 1999 Regular Week 11 | Colorado | Kansas State | #6 | L14-20 |
| 1999 Regular Week 10 | Colorado | Oklahoma | #24 | W38-24 |
| 1998 Regular Week 12 | Northwestern | Penn State | #16 | L10-41 |
| 1998 Regular Week 9 | Northwestern | Ohio State | #1 | L10-36 |
| 1998 Regular Week 5 | Northwestern | Wisconsin | #13 | L7-38 |
| 1997 Regular Week 13 | Northwestern | Iowa | #22 | W15-14 |
| 1997 Regular Week 11 | Northwestern | Penn State | #2 | L27-30 |
| 1997 Regular Week 10 | Northwestern | Ohio State | #9 | L6-49 |
| 1997 Regular Week 9 | Northwestern | Michigan State | #12 | W19-17 |
| 1997 Regular Week 8 | Northwestern | Michigan | #6 | L6-23 |
| 1996 Regular Week 12 | Northwestern | Iowa | #23 | W40-13 |
| 1996 Regular Week 11 | Northwestern | Penn State | #15 | L9-34 |
| 1996 Regular Week 7 | Northwestern | Michigan | #6 | W17-16 |
| 1996 Postseason Week 1 | Northwestern | Tennessee | #9 | L28-48 |
| 1995 Regular Week 11 | Northwestern | Penn State | #12 | W21-10 |
| 1995 Regular Week 9 | Northwestern | Wisconsin | #24 | W35-0 |
| 1995 Regular Week 7 | Northwestern | Michigan | #7 | W19-13 |
| 1995 Regular Week 2 | Northwestern | Notre Dame | #9 | W17-15 |
| 1995 Postseason Week 1 | Northwestern | USC | #12 | L32-41 |
| 1994 Regular Week 13 | Northwestern | Penn State | #2 | L17-45 |
| 1994 Regular Week 7 | Northwestern | Wisconsin | #24 | L14-46 |
| 1994 Regular Week 6 | Northwestern | Ohio State | #20 | L15-17 |
| 1994 Regular Week 3 | Northwestern | Stanford | #24 | T41-41 |
| 1994 Regular Week 2 | Northwestern | Notre Dame | #3 | L15-42 |
| 1993 Regular Week 13 | Northwestern | Penn State | #14 | L21-43 |
| 1993 Regular Week 7 | Northwestern | Wisconsin | #21 | L14-53 |
| 1993 Regular Week 6 | Northwestern | Ohio State | #7 | L3-51 |
| 1993 Regular Week 4 | Northwestern | Boston College | #22 | W22-21 |
| 1993 Regular Week 2 | Northwestern | Notre Dame | #7 | L12-27 |
| 1992 Regular Week 11 | Northwestern | Michigan | #4 | L7-40 |
| 1992 Regular Week 4 | Northwestern | Stanford | #18 | L24-35 |
| 1992 Regular Week 2 | Northwestern | Notre Dame | #3 | L7-42 |
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 edgeGary 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
7.1 during vs 15.6 baseline
-8.6
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
11.9 during vs 20.2 baseline
-8.3
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
28.6% during vs 60.0% baseline
-31.4%
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
Worst 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.
| Colorado | 2005 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 58.3% | — | — | 5.8 | 11.7 | 27.8 | 16.1 | +1.9 | -3.2% |
| Colorado | 2004 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 61.5% | — | — | 3.9 | 7.8 | 32.9 | 27.0 | +4.0 | +19.9% |
| Colorado | 2003 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 41.7% | — | — | -0.1 | 2.6 | 37.7 | 35.3 | -12.8 | -22.6% |
| Colorado | 2002 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 64.3% | #7 | #20 | 12.7 | 19.8 | 40.0 | 22.5 | -0.5 | -12.6% |
| Colorado | 2001 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 76.9% | — | #9 | 13.2 | 20.2 | 42.6 | 25.4 | +7.8 | +49.6% |
| Colorado | 2000 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 27.3% | #24 | — | 5.4 | 10.1 | 34.0 | 25.6 | -3.2 | -31.1% |
| Colorado | 1999 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 58.3% | #15 | — | 8.6 | 11.3 | 40.7 | 32.4 | +15.4 | +33.3% |
| Northwestern | 1998 | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 25.0% | — | — | -6.8 | -9.0 | 24.2 | 32.3 | -8.3 | -16.7% |
| Northwestern | 1997 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 41.7% | — | — | 1.5 | 3.1 | 28.1 | 26.1 | -6.4 | -33.3% |
| Northwestern | 1996 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 75.0% | #18 | #15 | 7.9 | 8.2 | 34.6 | 28.2 | -12.8 | -8.3% |
| Northwestern | 1995 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 83.3% | — | #8 | 20.7 | 24.7 | 36.2 | 12.0 | +21.8 | +51.5% |
| Northwestern | 1994 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 31.8% | — | — | -1.1 | -1.4 | 30.5 | 32.3 | +3.8 | +13.6% |
| Northwestern | 1993 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 18.2% | — | — | -4.9 | -6.7 | 25.9 | 32.3 | +3.3 | -9.1% |
| Northwestern | 1992 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 27.3% | — | — | -8.2 | -6.3 | 27.6 | 33.4 | — | — |
Similar coaches
Related profiles are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.
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same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.1
Avg SRS 4.1 • Peak SRS 16.7 • 15 seasons
Best finish #2 • Volatility 7.5
Open profile →Tyrone Willingham
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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
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
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
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
Avg SRS 4.3 • Peak SRS 12.8 • 14 seasons
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Open profile →