Sept. 12, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State swimming and diving program has announced the addition of assistant swim coach Steve Barnes, who becomes the fourth member of head coach Tim Murphy's staff.
"Steve Barnes comes with five years of experience as a head coach," said head coach Tim Murphy. "He grew up in the Philadelphia area, so we are looking forward to him reconnecting with the club coaching community and being a real good recruiter for us, an excellent recruiter for us."
Prior to arriving in State College, Barnes spent the last four seasons as the head coach of the Wabash College swimming and diving program. Under Barnes' leadership, Wabash set three new school records in the 2013 season. During his tenure, Wabash produced two All-Americans in swimmers David Birrer and Evan Rhinesmith at the 2011 NCAA Division III Championships. Barnes is looking forward to the opportunity of being a Nittany Lion.
"I am very excited to join the family here at Penn State," said Barnes. "Penn State and the athletics program have a rich history of tradition and success and I look forward to adding to its success. I want to thank Charmelle and head coach Tim Murphy for this opportunity and am thrilled to be a Nittany Lion."
Before his time at Wabash, Barnes spent three seasons at Kalamazoo College as an assistant coach. The Hornets set an NCAA record, 39 school records, 17 conference records, won 36 individual and relay conference titles, qualified for 59 NCAA "B" cuts and 16 NCAA "A" cuts, and had nine individual top-eight finishes at the at the NCAA Nationals in his stint with Kalamazoo.
Barnes graduated from Ithaca College in 2005, where he was a four-time All-American and team MVP for the Bombers. He was named the 2002 Empire Eight Conference Swimmer and Rookie of the Year, was a 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honoree, and was selected as the Ithaca College Athlete of the Year from 2002-2005. Barnes holds the Ithaca records in the 500, 1000 and 1650-yard freestyle races and was part of the record-setting 800-yard freestyle relay team.