The growth of college swimming continues with the addition of men's and women's teams at Wilkes University. Tapped to lead that program is Mark Barnes as the school's new head coach. Barnes comes to Wilkes after a successful coaching career at the high school level at both Bloomsburg and Danville Area. He began his coaching career at Danville spending four years at the helm of the program. At Danville, Barnes girl's teams earned four straight PIAA District IV team championships and Northeastern Pennsylvania Swimming League championships from 2005 through 2009
"I am very excited to begin to build the Wilkes University swim program into a contender in the Middle Atlantic Conference," Barnes said. "The quality of the University and its academic and athletic profile will aid in recruiting talented swimmers to the program," he added.
The expansion will increase the number of intercollegiate offerings at Wilkes to 18 with eight men's sports (baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, tennis, and wrestling) and 10 women's sports (basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, and volleyball).
"The addition of swimming and women's golf will add to our already strong and competitive sport offerings at Wilkes," Director of Athletics Addy Malatesta said.
The conference is excited about Wilkes adding both women's golf and swimming," conference Executive Director Ken Andrews said. "As a conference we went from not many schools sponsoring women's swimming to now 10 schools with the addition of Wilkes." "It broadens Wilkes athletics program and will only help our conference with automatic qualifying bids in the future," he added.
After his stint at Danville, Barnes then took over the swimming program at Bloomsburg Area for three years from 2009 to 2012. At Bloomsburg, Barnes boy's teams captured three straight PIAA District IV team championships including several individual swimmers who notched state championships in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 IM and 100 breaststroke.
The Press Enterprise selected Barnes as Male Swimmer Coach of the Year twice (2009 and 2010) and Female Swimmer Coach of the Year twice (2005 and 2006). He was also tabbed Heartland Athletic Conference Coach of the Year (boys and girls) in 2008-2009 when his girl's team captured the conference title at Danville.
Barnes is an active member of the USA Swimming Coaching Association and holds a USA Coaching certification.
Barnes earned his bachelor's degree in Health and Physical Education with a concentration in Aquatic Management and Coaching from Lock Haven University in 2005.
Wilkes will begin competition in the pool starting with the 2014-15 season in the Middle Atlantic Conference. Barnes will begin his recruiting efforts for the inaugural season immediately.
