Barber is a native of Paducah and a 1988 Tilghman graduate. He received Kentucky's "Mr. Football" award his senior season and went on to play football for the University of Southern California. Barber started at linebacker his junior and senior years. In 1991 he was named All PAC-10 and led the team in tackles and sacks. He was picked 42nd in the second round of the NFL draft and went on to play professional football for five years for the New York Jets, the Denver Broncos, and the Chicago Bears.
Barber has served as an assistant coach for numerous colleges since 1998, including Kentucky State, UT Martin, University of Utah, UNLV, Kent State, WKU and most recently Campbellsville University.
"I'm very excited today for Paducah Tilghman and our football program. When looking for a coach we needed someone special, and I believe we have found him," PTHS principal Art Davis said in his introduction.
In his remarks, Barber said that he was thrilled to be able to return to his hometown. He said that while he had always hoped to return to coach football at PTHS, he had envisioned returning later in life, after he had gained more coaching experience.
"We all know we have our timing and God has his timing and when this came open I was hearing from Coach Wyatt on a daily basis and I spoke with Art Davis and I called the people that I get counsel from and we decided to pray about it. So I came down and I got a chance to hang out with Mr. Davis and with superintendent Shively and once I heard their vision of where they wanted the program to go, I was sold," Barber said.
Barber thanked those in the audience for their attendance, and encouraged them to continue to support the football program.
"We are going to put together an exciting brand of football but more importantly we're going to help these kids be good citizens and be contributing citizens who do well in the classroom and do well on the field," Barber said.
