After a planned retirement and a 30-year coaching career, basketball coach Clay Barnett thought his days on the sideline were over.
Instead, the former Levelland girls’ basketball coach is beginning a new chapter at Whiteface High School, bringing decades of experience and a championship pedigree to the Lady Antelopes program.
Prior to coming to Whiteface, Barnett spent 12 seasons at Levelland High School, where he led the program to a 352-66 record and an 84% winning percentage. During his tenure, his teams captured eight district championships, made four regional tournament appearances and reached the regional finals twice. His teams also achieved seven 30-win seasons and recorded a nearperfect 26-1 regular season in 2021.
Before Levelland, Barnett coached at Merkel ISD, where his teams compiled a 99-8 record, won two district championships, captured the Region 1 title and finished as UIL state runner-up in 2013. Over the course of his career, he has coached multiple sports, including basketball, football, golf, track and cross country. Other schools include Wellington, Baird and Anson. He has an overall career win record of 548.
Additionally, he spent one year coaching at Howard Payne University in Brownwood.
Coach Barnett has earned numerous honors, including the Abilene Reporter-News Super Team Coach of the Year (2013), Texas Girls Coaches Association Coach of the Year (2013), Lone Star Varsity Coach of the Year (2017).
After leaving Levelland, Barnett eyed retirement, but a friend, Rodney Gee, reached out to him to join the program at Howard Payne University in Brownwood. Barnett coached at the university for one year before returning to Levelland.
Upon his return, Barnett Whiteface CISD contacted him and asked him to coach the girls’ basketball team at Whiteface. Barnett agreed.
“I wasn’t going to go back just for anything,” Barnett said. “I just wanted to make sure you had an administration that was going to back you and support you, and that’s definitely the case at Whiteface.”
Barnett said that something that made it easy to start coaching at Whiteface once he returned from the Texas Hill Country was that the players and community had the same expectations to become successful.
“The good thing about going to Whiteface is that I don’t have to go in talking about winning a district championship. They know that is obviously going to be a goal,” said Barnett. “We’re going to go in and talk about getting better.”
Barnett describes his coaching philosophy as the saying “hard work beats talent when talent won’t work” and explains that when an athlete can get their talent to work then they can get the opportunity to do important things.
Barnett said what he is most excited about in coaching Whiteface is the support the community gives to the athletes and building new relationships with the players.
“To me, it’s how you develop relationships with these kids and getting to experience special moments with them,” Barnett said. “For me to be able to continue to do that, before I really hang it up, I think is the big positive.”
Whiteface realigned into the 1A division for this upcoming year after previously being in 2A, while Levelland is a 4A school. Barnett said other than the obvious difference of numbers, there really is no other difference in the two classifications.
“There are some differences but not as big as you would think,” Barnett said. “In 1A, there are some good girls’ basketball teams. There might not be as many, but in our region, there are some teams that are good enough to beat 4A and 5A schools.”
When asked what Barnett hopes to accomplish this year beyond wins and losses, he said it is to get his athletes mentally and physically stronger as well as learn things beyond basketball that players can carry on throughout their life.
“I think teaching the kids how to handle adversity is obviously helpful, because that’s always going to be something they’re going to have to deal with. You hope you’re not going to have a whole lot of it, but you’re going to, you know?” said Barnett.
Barnett said he admires the Whiteface CISD administration and can tell they want the students to be successful.
“This summer we played at LCU (Lubbock Christian University) and Sands and both times administrators would come and watch the kids. At some of the bigger schools, sometimes they don't even come to all your games.”
Although Barnett has accumulated hundreds of wins and numerous district championships throughout his career, he said his focus at Whiteface will remain on helping his players improve every day and creating a culture built on hard work, resilience, and accountability. If the Lady Antelopes embrace that mindset, Barnett said he believes the results will take care of themselves before ending with his simple expectation for the program.
“If somebody beats us it’s because they’re better than us,” Barnett said.
Coach Barnett is a graduate of Angelo State University and holds certifications in Secondary History and Physical Education.