We all remember when Barnes was the next big thing in coaching during the 2021 season after beating UConn in the national semifinals and coming within 1pt of the championship vs Stanford. Since that time, the results at AZ have been more lackluster.
After an inexplicable loss to Northern AZ in the WBIT, the AD was unwilling to either renegotiate Barnes’ contract with one year left or fire her and pay a large buyout to her. Essentially, Barnes would be twisting in the wind at AZ if she stayed for the 2025-26 season.
She’s lucky SMU came calling. Supposedly, there’s some big money boosters looking to turn SMU WBB into the next big thing……..