Sport(s) Football 1950–1958 UCLA (assistant) 1946–1949 Arkansas (assistant) | 1941 Tennessee (assistant) 1937–1939 Tennessee Name William Barnes | |
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Born October 20, 1917
Cape Girardeau, Missouri ( 1917-10-20 ) Died April 23, 2009(2009-04-23) (aged 91)
Santa Monica, California | ||
William F. "Bill" Barnes (October 20, 1917 – April 23, 2009) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach for at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1958 to 1964. He guided his teams to a 31–34–3 (.478) record including two seven-win seasons in 1960 and 1961 and an appearance in the 1962 Rose Bowl.
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Early life, playing career, and military service
Barneswas born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He played high school football for Central High School in Memphis, Tennessee.
Barnes played college football at the University of Tennessee under coach Robert Neyland. He was a member of the 1939 Tennessee Volunteers football team that went through the regular season without allowing a point to be scored. This team was invited to play in the 1940 Rose Bowl, where they lost to USC, 14–0.
Barnes served during World War II and was assigned to the Alamo Scouts. He earned two Bronze Star Medals, a Silver Star, Legion of Merit, a Philippine Ribbon and an Alamo Scout Commendation, and earned the rank of Major.
Coaching career
Barnes served as an assistant football coach at the University of Arkansas. He then came to UCLA to serve as an assistant coach for Henry Russell Sanders in 1950. Sanders died of a heart attack before the 1958 season. George W. Dickerson was named the head coach. Before the season began, Dickerson had been admitted to the UCLA Medical Center with nervous exhaustion on August 30, 1958. Dickerson returned to coach on September 11, and coached for three games as head coach, losing to #21 Pittsburgh on September 20, winning at Illinois, then losing 14–0 at Oregon State. Barnes was named acting head coach for the October 10, 1958 game against Florida. Dickerson had been admitted to the UCLA Medical Center late the previous evening suffering from nervous exhaustion. Barnes was the head coach for the UCLA Bruins football team from 1959 to 1964. He guided his teams to a 31–34–3 (.478) record. He did have two seven-win seasons in 1960 and 1961, leading the Bruins to the 1962 Rose Bowl. Three of the assistant coaches from the 1954 national championship season later served as head coaches for the Bruins: Dickerson, Barnes, and Tommy Prothro. Both the late coach Sanders and assistant coach Prothro also were from Tennessee.
Barnes resigned after the 1964 season after learning that athletic director J. D. Morgan was not going to renew his contract.
Later life and honors
After leaving UCLA, Barnes became a National Football League (NFL) scout. He later became a real estate developer. Barnes died at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica at the age of 91. He was survived by his wife Frances, to whom he had been married for 62 years. The couple had no children.
Barnes was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.