Coaching Experience
• Director of Operations, Cornell University (2024-Present)
• Graduate Assistant Coach, Tufts University (2022-2024)
• Assistant Coach, Southern Maine Community College (2020-2022)
• Assistant Coach, Portland High School (2019-20)
Playing Experience
• St. Joseph's College of Maine (2017-19)
• Southern Maine Community College (2015-17)
Education
• M.A., Tufts University (2024)
• B.A., St. Joseph's College of Maine (2019)
At Cornell
Vanese Barnes joined the Big Red in June of 2024.
Prior to Cornell
Barnes was named the to the Tufts Athletics Future Leaders Fellowship assistant coaching position with women's basketball prior to the start of the 2022-23 season. In her first year, she helped guide the team to an elite eight appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament and a NESCAC conference regular season and tournament title.
As part of this two-year program, Barnes earned a master's degree in Diversity and Inclusion Leadership within the Tufts Graduate School of Arts & Sciences while serving as a graduate assistant coach for the Jumbo women's basketball team.
Before Tufts, Barnes served as an assistant coach for Southern Maine Community College, temporarily taking over the lead role while the head coach was on maternity leave. She was also a varsity assistant and the junior varsity head coach at Portland High School for a year. During the 2020-22 school years, she taught at Park Avenue Elementary School in Auburn, Maine. She has also participated in a number of professional development opportunities in recent years, including being a member of the Maine Women's Basketball Coaches Development Series since 2020.
Playing Career
Barnes earned a degree in elementary education at St. Joseph's in 2019, where she was a member of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference championship team in 2017-18. She previously played at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland, Maine from 2015-17, was captain of the team, and was selected as a United States Collegiate Athletic Association Academic All-American in 2017.
