J. D. Barnett

Who is J. D. Barnett?

J.D. Barnett is a former head basketball coach at several Division I institutions, the most high-profile being Virginia Commonwealth University, where his most notable win consisted of a buzzer-beater NCAA Tournament win over Jim Calhoun's Northeastern Huskies. He is also well known for being a mentor of Tubby Smith, the current head coach at the University of Minnesota. Most notably, Barnett taught Smith the philosophy of ball-line defense, which is a strategy that requires all defenders to stay between the line of the ball and the baseline. He was most recently the head coach and athletic director at Division II Hawaii Pacific.

Barnett graduated from Winona State University in 1970, playing varsity baseball and basketball. He was inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame in 2002.