Luke Barnwell has officially been added to Ben McCollum's men's basketball staff at Iowa. He spent the last two seasons under Grant McCasland as an assistant at Texas Tech.
“I have known Luke for a number of years,” McCollum said of his newest hire. “He is an elite recruiter, excellent coach and has had a ton of success at the prep level. He also has a lot of experience at the Power 5 level with one of the top coaches in the country in Grant McCasland. We’re excited to have Luke join our program.”
Barnwell arrives in Iowa City with 14 years of coaching experience, most recently spending two seasons with the Red Raiders.
During his two years in Lubbock, Barnwell aided TTU's efforts in posting a a 51-20 record, along with two trips to the NCAA Tournament. Texas Tech advanced to the Elite Eight in his second season, finishing the year with a 28-9 overall record along with a 15-5 mark in Big 12 play. They also reached the semi-final round of the Big 12 Tournament.
The Red Raiders were in the AP Top 10 for the final five weeks of the season and finished the year with the third-most wins in program history.
Prior to making the leap to a high-major job, he spent ten seasons as head coach at Sunrise Christian Academy where he was named the 2021 and 2022 Naismith High School Boys Coach of the Year and led the team to the 2022 National Interscholastic Basketball Conference Championships.
Barnwell also helped develop JT Toppin, Darrion Williams and Chance McMillian -- all three of whom earned multiple postseason honors. Toppin was an All-American while also being named the Big 12 Player of the Year, Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and to the All-Big 12 first team.
In ten seasons at Sunrise Christian Academy, Barnwell compiled an overall record of 224-39, leading his team to five consecutive GEICO Nationals. Along the way, he coached more than 75 NCAA Division I players and worked with six NBA players. Kennedy Chandler, Kendall Brown, Gradey Dick and Ochai Agbaji each came through Sunrise, and Barnwell also helped train Buddy Hield and Ron Baker.
Iowa's newest hire also spent time gaining coaching experience within the Mokan Nike Elite program. He was the head coach of Mokan 17U Select in 2014 and Mokan 15U Elite in 2015 and assisted with the program from 2016-2018.
“I am incredibly blessed to be a part of the University of Iowa and Coach McCollum’s staff,” Barnwell said. “My family and I look forward to being back in the Midwest to work for this university, community and program.”
