New Mexico State University Athletics

After helping the Aggies capture their third-straight Western Athletic Conference regular season crown, Corey Barker returns to NM State's bench for his second season as an assistant on Chris Jans' staff in 2020-21.

With Barker on their side, the Aggies continued their domination of the Western Athletic Conference during the 2019-20 campaign. NM State piled up a 25-6 record which featured a perfect 16-0 mark in regular season WAC action. The Aggies became the first time in the history of the league to generate a 16-0 record in regular season league play and joined just two other teams in WAC lore who went undefeated during a regular season conference slate. 

NM State won its final 19 games of the season and saw five of its players latch on to All-WAC honors of some kind. 

Barker began his stint in Las Cruces in the summer of 2019, coming to the Land of Enchantment after spending the last three season at TCU (2016-19).
 
In his first season with the Horned Frogs, Barker played an integral part in the second-largest turnaround in school history as TCU went 24-15, an improvement of 12 wins from the previous year. Win No. 24 gave TCU its first postseason championship, when it beat Georgia Tech, 88-56, at Madison Square Garden for in the NIT title. The victory also tied for the second-most wins in school history was the most since the 1997-98 season (27-6).
 
Year two saw TCU go 21-12, which was the first time it had won back-to-back 20-win seasons since the 1997-99 seasons, with an NCAA Tournament at-large berth as the No. 5 seed in the Midwest Region. In 2018-19, the Horned Frogs coasted through the NIT before falling in the semifinals to Texas 58-44 at MSG.
 
Prior to his stint in Ft. Worth, Texas, Barker was and an assistant at Louisiana Tech for the 2015-16 season. While at La Tech, Barker helped guide the team to a 23-10 overall mark with a postseason appearance and played an integral role in Alex Hamilton and Erik McCree earning all-conference accolades. Hamilton was also C-USA’s Player of the Year and earned AP Honorable Mention All-America honors.
 
In his time at BGSU under Coach Jans, Barker helped guide the Falcons to 21 wins and earned a postseason invitation after leading the Mid-Atlantic Conference in scoring defense. Individually, Barker helped coach Richaun Holmes to all-conference honors, as well as MAC Defensive Player of the Year accolades.
 
Barker came to BGSU after serving as an assistant coach at Arkansas State University for two years (2012-14). In his two seasons, the Red Wolves posted back-to-back 19-win campaigns and made multiple appearances to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament semifinals. Under Barker's watch, ASU had four players garner all-conference accolades.
 
Barker arrived at Arkansas State after spending the 2011-12 season as an assistant coach at Paris Junior College in Paris, Texas, where he helped lead the Blazers to a 23-6 overall record and a Region XIV Zone Conference Championship title.
 
He has also had successful stints in the high school ranks, serving as an assistant coach for five years at North Forest High School in Houston, Texas, and the Humble Christian Life Center Academy in Humble, Texas, from 2005-10. While at Humble, Barker recruited and coached Latavious Williams, who was drafted by the Miami Heat in 2010, Marquette standout Junior Cadougan and former Texas A&M star Kourtney Roberson – who became only the 16th Aggie in program history to top the 1,000-point, 500-rebound milestone in 2015.
 
Barker graduated from Prairie View A&M University in 2003 with a degree in kinesiology. As a player for the Panthers, he helped the team capture their first conference title since 1962. Following his playing career, he served as a graduate assistant at his alma mater.