Barnett promoted to head coach at St. Paul’s

The search for a new head football coach at St. Paul’s ended where it began — at the school. Ham Barnett, who served as the Saints’ defensive coordinator the past three seasons, was named St. Paul’s new head coach on Tuesday.

He replaces Steve Mask, who resigned his position following the season after 10 years and four Class 5A state championships. Mask was recently named head football coach at Pell City.

Barnett, who had one previous stint as a head coach at Cottage Hill Christian for two seasons (2014-15), was announced as the Saints’ new leader in a letter to parents of students at the school from Athletics Director Shane Sullivan, who recently took over that position from Mask. 

“Besides being a superb football coach, leader and motivator, Ham is also deeply committed to the principles of our football program and by extension, our school’s mission and values,” Sullivan said in the letter. “Ham knows and loves the game of football — it was evident in the past three years of my experience working with him. He is a passionate football coach with strong Christian values that resonate to our student-athletes. He will be a wonderful role model for our student-athletes, school and community.”

Barnett, in a telephone interview with Lagniappe, said he is looking forward to the opportunity to lead the St. Paul’s football program.

“I’m excited about this next stage of my coaching career,” he said. “I feel like this is kind of God-ordained; I feel like this is something I’ve been working towards my whole life. I’m very fortunate. Today I’ve been able to reflect on the coaches that I’ve coached under, especially the last six years in Mark Freeman (Thompson), Eric Collier (Theodore) and Steve Mask, and what they’ve meant to me on a personal level and what they’ve shown me on the coaching front as well.

“The thing with St. Paul’s is, when Steve hired me three years ago they had already hired my wife (Whitney), who is an alumni of St. Paul’s, so this opportunity three years ago was an opportunity for my wife and three kids (Hamilton, Lila, Thomas) to be on the same campus where before we were traveling 30 minutes separate ways. This gave me my family and my livelihood all in one place and we happen to live just two miles from the school, so this is just something that we are really excited about. It’s a place I planned on being at for a long time. When this opportunity came up, I jumped on it.”

Sullivan is the team’s former offensive coordinator who is now a full-time AD, which means Barnett’s first priority will be to hire a new offensive coordinator. Barnett will likely still call the defensive plays, but he also has to hire a coach to fill the vacancy on the defensive staff.

“I want to find an offensive coordinator that fits St. Paul’s,” Barnett said. “… I love what we did at St. Paul’s, but it really was just a team that fit our kids. We do have eight starters returning on the offensive side of the ball so I want to be able to do something that gives them the best opportunity to be successful. If it’s spread, it’s spread. We do have a tight end and fullback that played all 12 games last year and we definitely want them to fit into our system. We’ll probably be a little more no huddle; I know St. Paul’s has huddled in the past. And we want to play at a different tempo.”

Aside from his time at Cottage Hill, Thompson, Theodore and St. Paul’s, Barnett has also been an assistant coach at Mary G. Montgomery. He said he has learned a lot at each of those stops and hopes to employ that knowledge to his new position at St. Paul’s.

“I learned a lot from those guys,” Barnett said. “Me and Steve Mask are still very close. We talk at least three or four times a week. He’s somebody I’m definitely going to lean on. He’s been a mentor to me and he’s a very dear friend. But we’ll be playing him, so I won’t be telling him the ins and outs of what we’ll be doing. From a spiritual perspective, from a philosophical perspective, I’ll definitely lean on those two guys for sure.”

At Cottage Hill — he was named head coach there at the age of 34 — the Warriors were 4-16 in his two seasons. He has since been a part of state championship staffs at Thompson and St. Paul’s.

The Saints posted an 8-4 record last season and the defense, led by Barnett, allowed just 15.75 points a game. In Barnett’s three seasons as defensive coordinator, the Saints have allowed an average of only 16.23 points a game in 39 games.