Legendary Amarillo High Volleyball Coach Retires

Longtime Amarillo High volleyball coach Jan Barker announced yesterday she will not return for her 32^nd year as head coach of the Lady Sandies. 

Barker leaves after winning ten state titles in 14 state tournament appearances. Her teams posted 1,116 wins and just 175 losses over her career. Only three times in 31 years did the Lady Sandies fail to make the regional tournament.

Her 1994 State Championship team had a record of 37-0 followed by the 1995 regional finalist teams 33 consecutive wins for a winning record of 70-0.  Her 1998 State Champions continued the winning tradition with a record of 39-0.  The 2001 Sandies earned their 4th State Championship with a record of 37-2.  2006 brought the Sandies the 5th State Championship – the most of any 5A school- with a record of 45-1.  2007 brought a back-to-back state championship, and 6th state championship with a 46-1 record, which was the first 5A back-to back championship since 1984.  In 2008 and 2009, with matching 48-3 records, the Sandies made history by winning a 7th and an 8th state championship and being the only 5A team to win state 4 times in a row.  Then In 2013, the Sandies won a 9th state championship with a record of 38-9, the first in what was then Class 4A. The team’s most recent state title came in 2016 when the team went 43-6.

This past summer, Barker was inducted into the Texas Girls Coaches Association Hall of Fame.