Lamar head football coach Mac Barnes gives instructions to his players during Thursday’s walkthrough prior to Friday’s season opener against Starkville Academy. Barnes is 68 and said he plans to keep coaching as long as he’s mentally able to.

When Lamar hosted Starkville Academy for its season opener Friday, Mac Barnes could be seen patrolling the sideline.

It’s a sight Raiders fans have come to take for granted. At 68, Barnes is showing no signs of slowing down as a coach. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been physical challenges, however, for him continuing to do that and also teach a Bible class at Lamar.

In April 2018, Barnes hurt his groin muscle playing golf. It wasn’t the first time he had a groin injury, so he said initially he didn’t think much of it, but after the pain didn’t subside he went to the doctor and discovered he needed knee replacement surgery on his left knee. That would have to wait until football season was over, but Barnes also started having vision problems that summer and eventually had to get surgery for a torn retina, which forced him to stay on his stomach for five days.

After Lamar’s 34-20 win against Simpson Academy in the MAIS Class AAAA, Division II state title game in November 2018, Barnes underwent the knee replacement and was back playing golf by February 2019. Then his hip began hurting, and he later found out he would need to get both of his hips replaced. He had the left hip replaced prior to the 2019 season and had the follow-up surgery for his right hip last December.

In between hip surgeries, Barnes coached the 2019 season in pain. It wasn’t just the physical challenges of day-to-day coaching activities that frustrated Barnes, it was also the restrictions placed on certain things he had come to take for granted.

“I do a lot of work sanding and cutting grass (on the football field), and that’s how I keep myself in shape in the summer — and I like doing that,” Barnes said. “I couldn’t do those things. The mental part was a whole lot worse. I could deal with the physical part. I was sore and couldn’t bend over, and I guess I went a year without being able to put socks on.”

Now, Barnes is able to put a sock on his right foot with ease, and while it’s a little tougher to put a sock on his left foot, he’s still able to without the assistance of a tool. It’s a far cry from a year ago, when simply walking was painful.

“Things like going up and down stairs becomes a little harder (when you’re in that much pain),” Barnes said. “I remember I was teaching in the end room on a hallways, and when I came back after the surgeries, and all of a sudden I would come by the office and go to my room, if I had forgotten something, it was like, ‘Oh no, I have to walk all the way back down there.’”

The people around Barnes noticed what he was going through last year, which made them respect him even more. Senior linebacker Ben Bryan recalls the Raiders’ September 2019 game against Jackson Prep, when Barnes was on an IV drip in his office before the contest.

“Nobody thought he was going to come out, but pregame warmups ended and he walked out, and we were just surprised and glad he was able to come out,” Bryan said.

Lamar Athletic Director Shane Adams said he never considered asking Barnes to take a medical leave of absence from his school duties because he trusted Barnes to know what he could and couldn’t handle.

“Coach Barnes has done this for a long time,” Adams said. “Really, he’s no different than a player: Nobody knows his body better than he does. I know he went through a lot, and I made sure he knew he could do whatever he felt like he needed to do and whatever was in his best interest, but the fire burns bright (in him).”

Adams also said Barnes’ dedication to teaching and coaching despite not feeling 100% physically last fall serves as a valuable lesson for the students and faculty at the school.

“It’s a great example to everybody here,” Adams said. “There’s not one person outside of the elementary kids who see Coach Barnes on a daily basis that didn’t know what he was dealing with, but he wasn’t going to tell you about it or complain. It makes everyone else want to show up and do better.”

When he resumed playing golf five months ago, Barnes realized he lost muscle tone and strength, but he’s been slowly able to build that back up since then when doing things like cutting grass or moving sand.

“I’m getting better, whereas before (the surgeries) each time I did something they would get worse, because they would just get worn and worn and worn,” Barnes said. “People see me and say, ‘Man, you’re walking much better’ — and I was thinking back then I was walking pretty good, but it’s hard to describe the combination of pain and numbness.”

Barnes is currently dealing with carpal tunnel syndrome in both of his hands, but he still feels much better coaching than he did a year ago. Looking back, his biggest worry was not the pain itself but the mental toll the pain had on him.

“Hurting wears on you mentally, so that’s what I was worried about: Can I mentally keep myself at the point to call plays and keep up with things?” Barnes said. “I’m 68, and I try to take care of my brain because there’s just so much spontaneous stuff going on. I worry about that more than I do a virus or something like that.”

Whether it’s coaching football or teaching the Bible to his students at Lamar, Barnes said he’s determined to keep doing both as long as he’s mentally able to do both, which is why he never took time away from the school last fall despite the pain he was feeling.

“I really feel right now that there are so many different philosophies of life in this world,” Barnes said. “I’m not a fan of the direction our universities are going at all, and I get to talk with young people about life, about God and about what I think they need to understand is important about living a good life, whether it’s in my Bible classes or with football.”

Senior wide receiver/safety Miller Hodge said Barnes’ dedication is a major reason the players respect him so much.

“He’ll never quit,” Hodge said. “He’ll always be there and come back every day and keep trying and never give up.”

Football activities will occasionally include spiritual lessons or discussions of current events. It’s all part of what Barnes feels is a calling, not merely something he enjoys doing, though he does enjoy coaching and teaching. It’s why he’s done both for so long, even when he’s been in physical pain.

“The last thing I want to do is manipulate a player or student into thinking what I think,” Barnes said. “You’re going to handle your life according to your ability to handle it, and I believe in personal accountability. I believe teaching leadership means teaching self leadership and taking care of others, because you can’t lead others if you can’t lead yourself.”

Adams said Barnes’ value goes beyond the multiple state titles he’s won as the Raiders’ coach over the years.

“It’s bigger than football — Lamar School is a better school just by having him on campus regardless of whether we win a football game or not,” Adams said.

And the passion Barnes has is impossible for others not to notice.

“You can tell in everything he does that he just loves the game,” Bryan said. “It’s obvious, whether we’re in practice, games or walking through the hallways when he’s talking to us. He loves the game in every aspect.”

Said Hodge, “He shows up every day happy to be there, and you can tell he’s happy to be there. He loves to coach football, and he loves to teach us about everything with life.”