Barnett's Bulldogs Have Bite – Second-year coach has Campus Magnet flying high at 2-0

In just 16 months, 11 games and four scrimmages as the Campus Magnet football Coach, Eric Barnett is already changing the atmosphere of the downtrodden sports program at the Cambria Heights school.
The Bulldogs, after a 21-14 win at Thomas Jefferson, Barnett's first road win, have improved to 2-0, a far cry from their 0-5 start and 2-7 finish a season ago.
A former offensive coordinator at Christ the King and basketball director and football coach within the Springfield Rifles youth organization, Barnett isn't winning with smoke and mirrors. He has talent. Better yet, it's young.
Junior Datalia Holness (4-5, 86 yards, 1 TD) is one of the borough's top quarterbacks; Ireque Johnson and junior Stephan Benjamin (two receptions, 62 yards, 1 TD) are a pair of talented 6-foot-plus wide receivers; speedy sophomore running back Anthony Roberts is improving, along with an aggressive swarming defense led by linebacker Maurese Draughon (team-high five tackles).
But it's Barnett that deserves much of the credit. He is in constant motion on the sideline, his bald black head glistening under the hot sun. He reprimands his players for mistakes, even benching his two biggest offensive linemen prior to the clock-eating and game-clinching final drive Saturday, replacing them with freshman Tyshaun Williams and junior Jerry Pierre. &#8220It's about the size of your heart,” Barnett said.
Yet following a touchdown, a long gain or a sack, he will meet show his approval, hooting and hollering in unison with the bench. &#8220We always see him mad, and when you see him smiling, everything's much better,” Roberts said. &#8220It means you did something right.”
Barnett also changed the way the Bulldogs look. The coaches now wear gray collared shirts with the Bulldogs insignia across the chest, and tan slacks. The players' uniforms were changed from the moribund dark green and grays to resemble New York Jets jerseys; shiny green and white. &#8220It's all about having a little pride of looking good,” he said.
For years, Barnett saw other high school teams succeed with players from the various youth programs like the Rifles, Far Rockaway Ravens, Rosedale Jets and Bayside Raiders. So when he took over, Barnett brought in an all new staff, all football coaches like him with the Rifles. &#8220Everybody looks down on us for being high school coaches,” he said. &#8220But that's where the majority of our ballplayers are from.”
Barnett and his coaches have brought the same mentality that enabled them to succeed in Pop Warner Football to the high school level. Winning is obviously of paramount importance. Yet it's not the only thing. Building up their players, developing maturity and responsibility, is.
Entering the summer, for example. Roberts was expected to serve time as a backup behind last year's incumbent, senior Janeel Jacobs. The 5-foot-4, 140-pound back, however, was the one around all summer, the one lifting weights and running wind sprints during muggy August afternoons. Jacobs wasn't.
So even after his shaky varsity debut, Roberts was back out there, rewarding his coach's patience and trust with 67 yards rushing on nine carries, including the 35-yard run in the waning seconds that ensured victory.
&#8220I owed that to him,” Barnett said, &#8220because he worked so hard in the off-season. …. He's (Jacobs) going to play behind a sophomore because he wasn't there.”
Perhaps Barnett's goal isn't just winning. But he still couldn't hide his elation after Holness took the second of two knees and the clock hit all zeroes. He ran along his team's bench, both fists held firmly in the air. Moments later, his composure regained, Barnett sternly told his players, now lined up to shake hands, &#8220to show class.”
Football, indeed, is very different at Campus Magnet these days.