Leon Barmore

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Leon Barmore bigraphy, stories - American basketball player-coach

Leon Barmore : biography

03 June 1944 –

Leon Barmore (born June 3, 1944, in Ruston, Louisiana, United States) is a college women’s basketball coach. He coached at Louisiana Tech University from 1982 to 2002, serving the first three years as co-head coach with Sonja Hogg, who had begun the program in 1974 at the invitation of university president F. Jay Taylor. Upon his retirement, Barmore’s .869 winning percentage was the best in major-college basketball history (both men’s and women’s).

Louisiana Tech

Barmore joined the Louisiana Tech staff in 1977, nominally as Hogg’s top assistant. In truth, Barmore handled nearly all game strategy. He was named associate head coach in 1980 and co-head coach in 1982. He took over the reins full-time in 1985, when Hogg left Ruston.

In 20 years as either co-head coach or head coach, Barmore never suffered a losing season and only failed to win 20 games once. He tallied an amazing 13 30-plus win campaigns while also coaching the Lady Techsters to 20 straight NCAA Tournaments, nine Final Fours (including eight in a row from 1983 to 1990), five national championship games and the 1988 national title. He also led Tech to 13 regular season titles in 15 years as a member of either the American South, Sun Belt or Western Athletic conferences, including 10 in a row from 1992 to 2002. When Barmore coached Tech to a 31-5 mark in 2000-01, he became the first coach in Division I college basketball history to record six straight 30-plus win seasons. He was the fastest to reach 450 victories, achieving that accomplishment in 520 games.

Barmore coached 12 Kodak All-Americans, 14 players who have been selected in the WNBA Draft, and 37 first team all-conference selections.

Barmore was awarded the US Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Coach of the Year award in 1996.

Early years

Barmore was born June 3, 1944 to Jasper Barmore and Flora McCurry. He earned All-State honors as a basketball player at Ruston High School, helping his team to two state championships. He went on to play basketball at Louisiana Tech, serving as caption of the team and earned Gulf States All-Conference honors. In his first coaching job after graduation, he coached the boys basketball team at Bastrop High School where his teams recorded a record of 84–41. In 1971, he moved to his alma mater Ruston High School, where he remained until 1977, and coached the team to a record of 148–49.

Coaching tree

Eight former assistant coaches under head coach Leon Barmore have become head women’s basketball coaches.

  • Gary Blair – Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas, Texas A&M
  • Kurt Budke – Louisiana Tech, Oklahoma State
  • Kristy Curry – Purdue, Texas Tech, Alabama
  • Nell Fortner – Purdue, Team USA, Indiana Fever, Auburn
  • Stacy Johnson-Klein – Fresno State
  • Chris Long – Louisiana Tech
  • Kim Mulkey – Baylor
  • Jennifer White – St. Edward’s

Baylor University

Leon recently decided to continue his coaching career at Baylor University, where he is now an assistant under former Louisiana Tech superstar Kim Mulkey, who played under Barmore from 1980 to 1984. In the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament, Barmore served as Baylor’s interim head coach and led the Bears to an overtime victory over UT-San Antonio (Mulkey missed the game with an illness). Both Mulkey and Barmore are members of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (Mulkey as a player and Barmore as a coach), and Barmore is also a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Head coaching record

Notes