BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Men’s college basketball
Oral Roberts University named Kory Barnett its new men’s basketball coach Friday.
Barnett is a 2008 Rochester High School grad and an Indiana University grad.
This is Barnett’s first head coaching position.
Barnett spent the 2024-25 season as an assistant coach at West Virginia University under coach Darian DeVries.
Prior to West Virginia, Barnett spent 11 years on Steve Alford’s staff – six years at UCLA (2013-19) where he served as assistant coach, director of operations, director of scouting & player development, and video coordinator and five years at Nevada as an assistant coach (2019-24).
“We are excited to welcome Kory Barnett as our new men’s head basketball coach,” Oral Roberts president Dr. William M. Wilson said in a press release. “Kory is a great young man with a bright future in basketball and in life. His deep commitment to Christ and to developing student-athletes both on and off the court fits perfectly at ORU. There are great days ahead for ORU men’s basketball.”
The Zebras went 66-26 and won back-to-back sectional titles in 2006 and 2007 in Barnett’s four years as a varsity player from 2004-08.
He then played at Indiana University under coach Tom Crean from 2008-12, where he earned three Academic All-Big Ten honors and was nominated for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award following his junior season.
He has a bachelor’s degree in Sports Communications from IU.
He was a graduate assistant at IU in 2012-13.
“Among an extremely deep and talented candidate pool, we were incredibly impressed with Kory Barnett,” Oral Roberts athletic director Tim Johnson said in a statement. “From playing at Indiana to serving as an assistant at UCLA, Nevada, and West Virginia, Kory’s background is basketball rich. His career includes five Sweet 16’s, multiple conference championships, and he has developed and recruited over 20 NBA players. He wants to play fast with a defensive mentality that will translate into conference championships. More importantly, he will develop a team that ORU can truly be proud of, both on and off the court. The best is yet to come.”
Barnett is married to wife Sarah and father to sons Brooks and Blake.
“It is an honor to accept the head Men’s Basketball position at Oral Roberts University,” Barnett said in a statement. “I could not be more grateful to Dr. Wilson and Tim Johnson for the opportunity to take over such a special and historic program. I’m humbled to follow in the footsteps of the incredible coaches and players who have helped build the proud tradition of ORU basketball. My staff and I will work tirelessly to build a championship program that will make each and every Golden Eagle proud. Our mission will be to develop men of high character, compete at the highest level, and pursue excellence in everything we do – mind, body, and spirit. The passion and energy our team plays with will be felt every single possession.”
Barnett replaces Russell Springmann, who compiled a 19-42 record in two seasons.
Oral Roberts is a Division I school located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The school will hold a press conference to formally announce Barnett’s hiring on campus at 3 p.m. Eastern Monday.
