UNCW women’s soccer Head Coach Chris Neal has announced the promotion of Dr. Colin Barnes to Associate Head Coach ahead of the 2024 season.
Barnes enters his fifth season with the Seahawks after spending the previous two years as an assistant coach for the women's soccer program. A veteran coach with over two decades of playing and coaching experience, Barnes was recently named a South Region technical advisor for the United States Youth Soccer Association’s Olympic Development Program.
“Colin deserves this promotion, and I am very happy for him. On top of being a highly respected professional in our industry, he is a relentless worker behind the scenes,” said Neal, who enters his eighth season at his alma mater. “The amount of above-and-beyond hours he puts in, on behalf of our student-athletes and team, is astonishing.
”He has a very unique way of successfully executing his teaching, analytical, playing, and tactical experiences while also developing meaningful and professional relationships with our student-athletes.”
A native of Hoover, Ala., Barnes has coached, taught, or played at the youth, collegiate, professional, and international levels and worked with U.S. Soccer as a Coach Educator. Before Wilmington, Barnes spent four years as a Senior Lecturer of Football Coaching at Solent University in Southampton, England.
Barnes was a four-year letterwinner at UNC Asheville from 1998 to 2001. He was named to the Big South First-Team as a junior and senior after leading the Bulldogs with 12 assists across two seasons. The Bulldogs increased their win total in each of Barnes’ four seasons, culminating with the program’s first Big South regular season championship in his senior year.
Barnes spent the 2002 season with the Wilmington Hammerheads, where he helped the Port City squad to its first USL D-3 Pro League Finals appearance. While with the Hammerheads, Barnes also began his coaching career with the Cape Fear Youth Association.
In 2003, Barnes and Neal co-founded the Port City Soccer Club, where he served as the Director of Coaching, coordinating 240 recreational players and 30 select players.
Following Barnes’ Wilmington beginnings, he became the Academy Director for the Peachtree City FC (2004-06) in Peachtree City, Ga., before briefly joining the Chicago Magic SC in 2006. Barnes returned to the south as a Technical Director for Concorde Fire SC in Atlanta, Ga., in late 2006 and spent the next five years in the Georgia capital.
After a decade in youth soccer, Barnes ventured into collegiate coaching as a graduate assistant at Columbus State in 2011. In 2016, Barnes joined Alabama’s staff as a volunteer assistant coach and spent three seasons under Crimson Tide coach Wes Hart before moving to Southampton in 2019.
Barnes earned his Bachelor of Science in Atmospheric Sciences from UNC Asheville in May 2002. In December 2013, he graduated from Columbus with a master’s in teaching. Barnes completed his Ph.D. in Sport Pedagogy at Alabama in 2022.
Barnes resides in Wilmington with his wife, Jessica, and dog, Lucy.
