Matt Barrett opens his second season in Statesboro and fourth with Head Coach Willie Fritz in 2015. Barrett served two seasons as wide receiver’s coach at Sam Houston State.
In his first year with Georgia Southern, the Eagles went 8-0 in Sun Belt play to claim the conference championship. The Eagles hauled in 90 passes over the season including 245 yards through the air at Georgia Tech.
Barrett joined the Bearkat staff after serving for nine seasons in the roles of offensive coordinator at Missouri Southern State and Catawba College, bringing his experience as a playcaller and technician.
During Barrett’s two seasons in Huntsville, three Bearkat receivers were honored with All-Southland Conference accolades. In 2013, Torrance Williams caught 12 touchdowns and 962 total yards receiving to earn first-team all-conference recognition. Trey Diller, a Carolina Panthers signee, led the Bearkats with 62 catches for 927 yards, good for a spot on the All-Southland Conference team in 2012. Two-time All-Southland Conference selection Richard Sincere contributed to the receiving corps’ 14.51 yards per catch average, a figure good for second nationally.
Twelve Bearkats had at least one TD reception as Sam Houston State in 2013 had one of the highest passing touchdown totals among NCAA FCS teams.
As the Bearkats rolled to the NCAA FCS national championship game in 2012, they employed an offensive attack with nearly 200 passing yards per game. The 6,878 yards of total offense included 2,853 passing yards for the school record. Sam Houston State ranked among the nation’s leaders in scoring offense, holding the top spot through the regular season.
While at Missouri Southern State, Barrett guided the Lions to one of their most productive offensive years ever in 2010 with more than 2,500 passing yards and nearly 1,800 yards on the ground. In 2011, MSSU improved its national rankings in several statistical categories and increased its scoring by more than a touchdown per game. Twelve all-conference honors were bestowed upon nine Lions players in that two-year span.
Barrett joined Dave Bennett’s staff at Catawba College (N.C.) in 2000 as an offensive assistant and the following year was promoted to running backs coach. Running back Rodney Wallace broke Catawba’s freshman rushing record in 2001 and set the single-season rushing mark as sophomore. A rare first-team all-conference selection as a freshman, Wallace led the South Atlantic Conference in rushing and repeated as an All-SAC pick in 2002. He would go on to shatter Catawba’s career rushing yards record and finish his career as a four-time all-conference honoree.
In 2003, Barrett earned the co-offensive coordinator title, coaching the quarterbacks and developing the Catawba passing game. That year, Barrett’s quarterback Luke Samples was selected as the SAC Player of the Year, claimed a spot on the All-South Region team, and he would close his career as the Catawba Indians’ winningest quarterback in the program’s 100-year history.
Quarterback Brad Roach led Catawba to a 10-1 conference championship season in 2007 and earned first-team AFCA All-America and South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year honors. He would sign with the Baltimore Ravens after his college career.
Numerous individual season and career passing, rushing and touchdowns records were set under Barrett’s leadership as offensive coordinator and coach of the quarterbacks and wide receivers. At the end of his tenure at Catawba, Barrett helped produce two of the top three best seasons by receivers and six of the top 10 in school history.
More than a dozen team records were established and still stand, including marks for points, touchdowns, scoring average, yards per game and total yards. Virtually all of the passing records were also rewritten and Catawba’s 81 touchdowns in 2007 ranked ahead of all NCAA Division I team totals.
Barrett began his coaching career as a defensive backs and special teams coach at Orange County High School in 1999 after his completing his undergraduate degree at N.C. State.
Born and raised in Fayetteville, N.C., Barrett and his wife Gretchen are the parents of sons, Samuel and Daniel.
