Longtime Titan men’s basketball assistant coach and former Detroit Mercy women’s basketball head coach Mickey Barrett joined the program as the Director of Program Personnel and Operations in the summer of 2016.
"Mickey is a staple in the Midwest basketball community,” said head coach Bacari Alexander ‘99. “His understanding of all facets of a program will prove to be invaluable to us. As a former head coach and long time veteran assistant, he will have a great understanding of how to provide mentorship throughout our program.”
Barrett is no stranger to coach Alexander and the Titans serving as an assistant men’s basketball coach at the University from 1991-2003 before taking over the reigns as the head women’s basketball coach for five seasons.
A veteran of over 40 years of high school and collegiate coaching, Barrett was the recipient of the 2002 AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year Award, given to only 500 coaches nationwide, from all levels of competition - college, junior college and high school - and from all sports, not just basketball. Barrett began his stint on the Detroit Mercy staff in 1991 and was promoted to a full-time assistant's role in 1996.
With the men’s program, he was actively involved in the recruitment of future talent, on-the-floor coaching, scouting of upcoming opponents and helping to monitor the basketball team's academic progress.
During his time as an assistant, he worked under two great head coaches in Ricky Byrdsong (1991-1993) and Perry Watson (1993-2003) and helped the Titans soar to new heights winning three conference championships (1994, 1998, 1999), earning two bids to the NCAA Tournament (1998, 1999) and the NIT (2001, 2002), and tying the school wins record with 25 victories on three occasions (1998, 1999, 2001).
In 1993-94 in coach Watson’s first year, Detroit Mercy won the MCC Championship as the No. 4 seed, defeating top-seeded Xavier and No. 2 seed Evansville in the semifinals and finals, respectively.
With coach Alexander and assistant coach Jermaine Jackson ‘99 in the starting line-up in 1997-98, the Titans shared the regular season crown and would go on to beat St. John’s in the NCAA Tournament, the schools first NCAA tournament triumph since 1977. The following year with both Titans back, Detroit Mercy captured the regular season and conference tournament banners and would go on to shock 15th ranked UCLA in the NCAA Tournament.
With all-time leading scorer Rashad Phillips and future 12-year NBA player Willie Green in the starting line-up, the Titans made a historic run to Madison Square Garden and the NIT Final Four in 2000-01 as the red, white and blue went on the road to knock off Bradley, Connecticut and Dayton to advance to “The World's Most Famous Arena".
After serving 12 seasons as an assistant on the Titans' men's basketball staff, he became the head women’s basketball coach at Detroit Mercy from 2003-2007. He built the team to follow his belief on defense and ball control and that helped the red, white and blue finish with a 15-14 overall record and a 10-6 mark in conference play in 2003-04, advancing to the Horizon League championship game. Detroit Mercy also held opponents to a conference-low 55.9 points per game, a total which represented the 12th-best total in NCAA Division I.
That season also saw the Titans earn a spot on the Women's Basketball Coaches Association’s Academic Top-25 Honor Roll with a 3.308 GPA, tops in the Horizon league and the 15th-highest mark in the nation.
Overall, he coached a pair of players who earned All-Conference accolades in Nicole Anaejionu and Joyce Massey. He had two players tabbed to the HL’s All-Defensive Team in Anaejionu and Melissa Harakas, while Katie Solner was twice recognized on the All-Tournament squad.
Barrett also spent time in high school administration as the Athletic Director at University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy from 2008-2010 and been a consultant at Marfrank LLC for the last five years.
He originally came to Detroit Mercy from Jesuit-rival and his alma mater Xavier University, where he had served as an assistant on the women's basketball staff for three seasons (1988-91). In his last winter there, the Musketeers posted their first winning season since 1982 and came within one victory of making the MCC Tournament.
Barrett arrived at Xavier after spending five years as the assistant boy's basketball coach at St. Edward's High School in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, Ohio. He helped start AAU basketball in Cleveland and was the head coach of an AAU All-Star team that participated in several national tournaments. During his stint with the AAU program, Barrett also owned and operated the Recruiting Communication Service, designed to assist players and parents with the college recruiting process.
He is a graduate of Xavier with a degree in Liberal Arts.
