Scorebook
Join
Coaches / Position coach / Harlon Barnett
Career
62
not coaching now
Rating70recent
Peak70best 5 yrs
Career62whole career
confidence

Harlon Barnett

Safeties/Assistant Head Coach · Pittsburgh

Headline rating: as position coach · defensive backs. Every role he has been rated in is below.

Chemistry
—
index in development
Seasons here1
Programs4
Stints6

Career path

Head-coaching stints since 1936; assistant roles since 2016
2026PittsburghSafeties/Assistant Head Coach
2024–2025NorthwesternAssistant Head Coach (Safeties)
2023Michigan StateHead Coach
2020–2022Michigan StateSecondary Coach
2018–2019Florida StateDefensive Coordinator
2016–2017Michigan StateAssociate Head Coach/Co-Defensive Coordinator/DBs

As head coach

Rating59Peak59Career62
2023–2023 · 1 seasonsRecord 2-8National titles 0Great seasons 0 (top ~7% of all teams that year)Career: too early to rank all-time (8+ seasons as a head coach)
  • Rating 59: his whole career, recent seasons weighted most, measured as how far his teams stood above their era, crediting him with half of what each program already was when he arrived (about the share that, historically, follows a coach to his next job), fading as the program becomes his own.

Rating = who he is: his whole head-coaching career (since 1936), weighted toward recent years — how far his teams stood above their contemporaries, how much he lifted programs, his great seasons and titles. Form = the last two seasons. Career = the all-time ranking number.

SeasonTeamRecordSeason rankvs contemporaries
2023Michigan State2-8#78-0.29 SD
Season rank = his team among all major-college teams that year; vs contemporaries = how far above the average team (in standard deviations).

As defensive coordinator

Rating74Peak77

His defense against its preseason projection (value over expectation) and the unit's opponent-adjusted quality.

SeasonTeamUnit (EPA/play)Over expectationSeason score
2019Florida State0.04-0.03-0.07
2018Florida State0.070.020.56
2017Michigan State0.100.111.47
2016Michigan State-0.02—-0.10
Season score: 0 = an average season in this role; positive = better.