Caldwell County High School has a new football head coach. And his last name is Barnes.
Will Barnes moves from assistant coach to head coach of the Tigers.
Like his father, longtime head coach David Barnes, Will is a former Tiger standout. The younger Barnes held nearly every Caldwell passing record when he graduated from CCHS in 2009.
After playing quarterback at Kentucky Wesleyan, Barnes was an assistant coach at Glasgow High School from 2014-17. He was offensive coordinator at the school from 2015-17.
Barnes returned to his alma mater for the 2017 football season and has been offensive coordinator since that time. Over the past three years, the Tigers have averaged over 33 points and 312 yards of offense a contest.
Barnes has also been a quarterback camp instructor in The System Camp, traveling around the country and working with players and installing offenses at various schools. He has worked with teams that have won multiple state titles.
His father won 110 games at Caldwell. However, David Barnes unexpectedly died in August, just six days before the regular season began.
Waynee McGowan was named interim head coach and the Tigers persevered, going 8-3. The Tigers pulled out several close games late before bowing to Murray in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs.
Will Barnes said he would like to continue to scrimmage Madisonville-North Hopkins in Caldwell’s first preseason game and that he hopes to add Owensboro Catholic in that second preseason slot.
Caldwell’s 2020 schedule will be identical to its 2019 slate, with only the home and away dates changed.
Caldwell is expected to keep its coaching staff intact moving forward. Most of that staff has been together since David Barnes was hired as football coach in 2006.
CCHS had seven applicants for its head coaching position. Will Barnes was the only local applicant.
