Utah head men’s basketball coach announced the addition of Tramel Barnes as director of player personnel on Tuesday.
“Tramel has been part of winning everywhere he’s been and that’s not an accident,” said Smith. “He’s relationship driven and leaves a positive impression on everyone he comes in contact with. He has a wealth of experience from both the administrative and basketball aspect. We couldn’t be more thrilled and excited to have him join our Runnin’ Utes basketball family.”
Barnes had previously worked under Smith for a season as the director of basketball operations and player development (2018-19) before spending the past two years at South Dakota State as an assistant coach.
In his two seasons in Brookings, S.D., Barnes helped guide the Jackrabbits to back-to-back Summit League regular-season titles with a combined record of 38-17 overall and 21-6 in league action. Barnes coached a pair of players in Baylor Scheierman and Douglas Wilson to all-league honors with Scheierman garnering first-team honors and Wilson second-team honors. In addition, Scheierman earned NABC All-District Second-Team accolades after averaging 15.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists with a .498 shooting clip.
South Dakota State saw immediate success in his year, going 22-10 overall with a 13-3 record in Summit League play – which gave them a share of the Summit League regular-season title. Barnes also helped guide a trio of Jackrabbits to all-conference honors that year. For his efforts, Barnes was named a Top-50 Impactful Mid-Major Assistant by Silver Waves Media in May of 2020.
As the director of operations and player development in Smith’s first season at the helm in Logan, Barnes helped the Aggies capture the Mountain West regular-season and tournament titles to earn an NCAA Tournament Berth. The NABC recognized Barnes at the end of the season and named him to the 2019 Under Armour 30-Under-30 Team at the end of the season.
Prior to joining Smith in Cache Valley, Barnes spent six seasons at Southwest Minnesota State and gradually moved up the latter to become the top assistant after starting out as a graduate assistant. While with the Mustangs, Barnes led them to a South Division Championship in the NSIC back-to-back years while going 53-15 in those two seasons – including a record-tying 28 victories in 2016-17. In total, Barnes saw six players reach all-conference status while 24 earned academic all-league honors during his time at SMSU.
Before joining the coaching ranks, Barnes finished his junior and senior year at SMSU after playing his first two seasons at Northern State University. He finished his career as the sixth-best free-throw shooter in school history with an .828 shooting clip from the line. At NSU, he saw action in 48 games for the Wolves.
Barnes earned his bachelor’s in sports management from Southwest Minnesota in 2013 before obtaining his masters in physical education from SMSU.
Smith Adds Barnes as Director of Player Personnel at Utah
