Daniel Harrison was confused as to what it was Mac Barnes wanted him to do.

It was early in Barnes’ tenure at Lamar — he begun as head coach of the Raiders in 2001 following nearly two decades as head coach at Meridian High School — and Harrison was being asked to run a route in practice that didn’t make sense to the then-high school receiver. Barnes was getting frustrated at Harrison’s confusion and decided to take matters into his own hands.

“Finally he ended up running it himself so he could show me exactly what he wanted me to do,” Harrison remembered. “I always thought that was the funniest thing.”

It’s one of countless fond memories Harrison has of Barnes, who has impacted countless lives in East Mississippi as both head football coach of Meridian and later Lamar. Barnes retired after this past season as Lamar’s coach following 21 years at the school, and Harrison said the success the school has seen in football over the past two decades all goes back to Barnes.

In Barnes’ first season at Lamar in 2001, the Raiders finished 3-8. They then went 7-5 the following year and finished 11-2 in 2003, which culminated in a 48-7 win against Madison-Ridgeland Academy for Barnes’ first state championship at the school. He went on to win five more in 2007, 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

“It was all about him,” Harrison said. “The same group could’ve had another coach and would’ve gone 3-7 or 3-8. We all collectively grouped around him as the leader. He was always the one who stood up and said, ‘This is what we’ll do and how we’ll do it.’”

Harrison said he can remember numerous instances that showed what kind of person Barnes was outside of the football field. Whether it was being the first to come up to him after a game during Harrison’s junior year in which Harrison sustained an injury or Barnes telling other teachers to go into their classrooms and turn on their TVs on Sept. 11, 2001, Harrison said Barnes was a humble person who always looked out for the well-being of his players.

“He’s one of the nicest and most gentle human beings I’ve ever met in my life,” Harrison said. “To this day, he’s one of my favorite people to talk to about football or life in general.”

Joseph Hutchinson, who was a quarterback for Lamar during the 2016-18 championship seasons, said it was an honor to have gotten an opportunity to play for Barnes, and the success Barnes had as a coach was due to his consistency in every aspect of the football program and his many years of accumulating knowledge of the game.

“Coach Barnes is a very consistent coach, whether it was his practices and workouts throughout the summer or keeping a good schedule with the players during the season,” Hutchinson said. “Any situation he got in, he knew a way out, and not a lot of coaches are able to do that. He’s had a huge impact on all of us players.”

MERIDIAN HIGH SCHOOL

Hutchinson wasn’t the only former player to laud Barnes’ consistency in everything he did. Meridian athletic director Cheyenne Trussell, who was a member of Barnes’ first team at Meridian in 1978, said Barnes’ tenure at Meridian was defined by championships, sell-out crowds at Ray Stadium and a deep connection between him and his players.

“He was knowledgable, he was consistent and he was a role model,” Trussell said. “He was not only competent but also had a vision for how he wanted to see the program. One thing I’ll never forget is he said sports is like life: It’s about relationships, and he’s touched a lot of relationships and will continue to do so.”

Barnes’ teams in 1978 and 1979 won the Big 8 championship, and he also won a pair of state titles in 1985 and 1990 at Meridian. The 1978 team was Meridian’s most recent undefeated team; it finished that season with a 12-0 record.

“He just had that magnetic personality, and he had a way with words,” Trussell said. “When we won the championship, he said, ‘Guys, we can take the money and buy rings or put it into the weight program for the future,’ and so of course we all agreed to put it toward the future.”

William McNeil played for Barnes from 1986-88 at Meridian and later coached for Barnes as an assistant at Lamar. He considers Barnes both a coach and father figure and said Barnes’ success as a coach was ultimately due to Barnes’ faith in God and him having a supportive family.

“From a spiritual base, he walked the walk and led by example,” McNeil said. “He did everything the right way, and his family was with him the whole step of the way. They could have begged him to stay home — he spent a lot of time helping other people.

Larry Weems, Meridian’s defensive coordinator and a former long-time assistant of Barnes’ at the school, said Barnes has always been first-class in everything he does, and he wouldn’t have continued coaching for decades if he didn’t enjoy having a positive impact on high schoolers.

“He’s done it a long, long time, and it’s amazing to me that he’s been a head coach that long just because of how much responsibility comes with it,” Weems said. “We were all the same age when he started as head coach — we were young coaches doing the best we could and trying to prove our worth. Mac hired coaches and he let us coach, and we had some really good players.”

Surrounding himself with good coaches was one of the keys to Barnes’ success, Weems added.

“Something we’ve all learned is you can’t coach by yourself,” Weems said. “You need help. We’ve had some really good coaches at Meridian, and I was fortunate enough to work with some great coaches, and we had kids who loved football. That’s a good combination to have.” 

‘HE NEVER CUSSED’

Whether it was at Meridian or Lamar, none of Barnes’ former players could remember him ever using profanity at practice or during a game.

“I thought all coaches were like that until I left and went off to college,” Trussell said with a laugh. “No, I never heard him swear. Now, he would get upset, and you knew (when he was), and everyone got quiet and knew it was time to turn it up a notch.”

To Hutchinson, Barnes not swearing was one of many ways he lived up to his Christian faith.

“What you see is what you get,” Hutchinson said. “He’s a very honest guy, and he preaches about being a good Christian, not just a good guy in general. For him to talk about that stuff and then for us to see it in person speaks a lot about his character.”

McNeil said while Barnes’ language might not be as fiery as other coaches’, his drive to win could be compared to the best coaches in the business, and it allowed him to tap into the potential of his athletes.

“He was a competitor, and he loved competitors because he loved to compete,” McNeil said. “He has a way of bringing out the best in everyone because he feels everyone has a gift. He won’t give up on you — you’ll give up on yourself before he does.” 

A REMARKABLE RUN

At a December event in Marion honoring him, Barnes said the relationships he built over his career were his most prized possessions, even more so than all of the championships.

“I want you to know, there are a bunch of championship trophies up here, but very few people have talked tonight about winning a championship,” Barnes said that evening. “There are players here who played on teams that won them and players here who played on teams that didn’t, but what they talked about is the process of winning and how much fun that was. I can’t tell you how excited I am to see guys come in here from all different occupations and stuff like this and be successful.”

That rang true for McNeil, who gave a short speech at the event discussing Barnes’ impact on his life. When he was hired at Lamar early in Barnes’ tenure at the school, McNeil became one of the first Black coaches to ever coach a Mid-South Association of Independent Schools team.

“I trusted the process, and I believed in him and what he stood for,” McNeil said. “I always liked to coach, and he called me up and said, ‘Hey, what do you think of this if I can work it out?’ and I jumped at the opportunity. I thought it was honorable to watch him compete and mold these young men. I was honored Coach Barnes and the school believed in me.”

It wasn’t just about the championships, McNeil said — though those were nice. 

“Six state championships (at Lamar), I think that’s remarkable,” McNeil said. “Coach Barnes was a great father figure to a lot of young men, Black and white. He didn’t see color. He was a God-sent pioneer.”