Mosi Barnes Steps in as Lawrence Central Athletic Director

Photographer / Robby Berry

Lawrence CentralMosi Barnes knows what it’s like to be a student-athlete as well as a coach and educator. These are the experiences that have shaped him, and are a part of what he brings to the table in his new role as Lawrence Central High School’s athletic director.

Barnes was born and raised in Indianapolis. He graduated on the honor roll from Cardinal Ritter High School. An all-American and Indianapolis Player of the Year, Barnes committed to play basketball at Purdue University under Gene Keady. After two years at Purdue, Barnes transferred to Eastern Michigan University, where he continued his playing career and graduated with a degree in sports medicine.

Barnes says he’s always had an innate desire to be involved with students and education. He attributes that to his mother.

“I just kind of was raised in that environment,” he says. “My mother is an educator. She spent 42 years in education. She worked as an English teacher for some years and also as an administrative assistant principal. She’s been a principal as well. She’s been a director on the educational level. I just was growing up in that kind of environment with my mother in education. It’s kind of instinctive for me, just being around her, being around her career and things of that nature.”

Barnes says some of the skills he learned from her prepared him to work in education.

After graduating from college, Barnes put his sports medicine degree to work as an athletic trainer. A few years later he got a job with Indianapolis Public Schools as a strength coach. In 2009 he became head boys basketball coach at Northwest High School, where the team finished runner-up in the city tournament during his tenure. In 2013 Barnes took on a dual role as both athletic director and head boys basketball coach at Howe High School, where his team won a city championship. From there he became assistant athletic director at Marion High School in 2018, and in 2019 he took the job of athletic director at Arsenal Technical High School.

Now he has taken over as the new athletic director at Lawrence Central.

Lawrence Central

“I’ve been a head coach,” Barnes says. “I had some success as a head coach and I’ve also had some success as an athletic director. I’m relatable to coaches and I work directly with coaches. I’m from Indianapolis, so I’m relatable to families and people in Indiana and things of that nature, and relatable to student-athletes because I’ve been one pretty much half of my life. I’ve done it on some level at the highest level.”

Barnes says the people in the Lawrence Central community are a big part of what convinced him to take the job.

“I think Lawrence Central has a clear vision of the direction they’re going as a school community,” he says. “We have a lot of very capable, experienced people that work in this district and in this community.”

The people, he says, are what he finds most exciting about his new role.

“Whether that be just the people of Lawrence in general and our kids at the elementary schools and middle schools and our high schools, our coaches here, our support team, our staff and all the parents really do a great job and put a lot of energy into this place,” he says. “I’m just really excited about being able to work with them. I want to develop positive relationships with families and students here in this community. I work tirelessly to help Lawrence Central be recognized as the best school in the state of Indiana. I really feel like this place doesn’t have a ceiling. This potential is unlimited.”

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