University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Football
- Title:
- Safeties/Assistant Head Coach
A 15-plus-year Big Ten veteran, Harlon Barnett enters his first season at Pitt as safeties coach and assistant head coach after holding the same title at Northwestern from 2024–25.
A former All-American at Michigan State and seven-year NFL veteran, Barnett brings extensive experience as a defensive coordinator, position coach and head coach.
Barnett spent multiple stints at Michigan State, most recently from 2020–23, serving as cornerbacks coach, secondary coach and acting head coach. In 2023, he guided the Spartans to two Big Ten victories after being named acting head coach midseason. In 2021, Barnett coached in his fourth New Year’s Six/BCS bowl game, as Michigan State defeated No. 12 Pitt in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl to finish 11–2 and No. 9 in the Associated Press rankings.
Barnett served as defensive coordinator at Florida State from 2018–19 after an earlier 11-year run at Michigan State (2007–17), where he held titles including secondary coach, assistant head coach, associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator. Across those tenures, he coached 11 NFL Draft picks, four All-Americans, three Thorpe Award semifinalists and 31 All-Big Ten selections. At Florida State, he coached five NFL Draft selections.
From 2007–17, Michigan State posted a 100–45 record, won three Big Ten championships (2010, 2013, 2015) and earned a College Football Playoff berth in 2015. Barnett was promoted to assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator prior to the Spartans’ 2015 Cotton Bowl victory and was named associate head coach in 2017.
Barnett coached one of the nation’s top secondaries during his time in East Lansing, as Michigan State ranked in the FBS Top 25 in pass efficiency defense five times between 2011–17, including No. 1 nationally in 2013. The Spartans also ranked in the FBS Top 10 in pass defense in 2012 and 2013. From 2011–14, Michigan State was the only program to rank in the national Top 10 in both total defense and rushing defense.
Barnett also spent three seasons as secondary coach at Cincinnati (2004–06) and served as a graduate assistant under Nick Saban at LSU in 2003 on the Tigers’ national championship staff. He began his coaching career at Princeton High School in Cincinnati.
As a player, Barnett was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter at Michigan State, earning first-team All-America honors in 1989. He was selected in the fourth round of the 1990 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns and played seven seasons in the NFL with the Browns, New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings.
Barnett earned his bachelor’s degree in communication from Michigan State. He and his wife, Tammy, have two children, Todd and Tori.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Hometown: Cincinnati. Ohio
Alma Mater: Michigan State, 1990
Family: Barnett and his wife, Tammy, have two children, Todd and Tori.
COACHING EXPERIENCE
College
Pitt, 2026, safeties/assistant head coach
Northwestern, 2024-25, safeties/assistant head coach
Michigan State, 2021-23, secondary; 2020, cornerbacks; 2017, associate head coach/co-defensive coordinator/secondary; 2015-16, assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator/secondary; 2007-14, secondary
Florida State, 2018-19, defensive coordinator
Cincinnati, 2004-06, secondary
LSU, 2003, graduate assistant coach
