Danny Barrett (born December 18, 1961) is an Americangridiron football coach and former player who is therunning backs coach for theHouston Texans of theNational Football League (NFL). He served as the interim head coach for theUCF Knights in 2015, and is a formerCanadian Football League (CFL)quarterback. He has been the head coach of the CFL'sSaskatchewan Roughriders and the running backs coach of theMiami Dolphins.

Before playing professional football with theCalgary Stampeders, Barrett was a star at theUniversity of Cincinnati. In 1982, he co-captained the Bearcats and earned an Honorable Mention Associated Press All-American nomination. During his professional playing career, Barrett played in 163 regular season CFL games with Calgary, Toronto, B.C. and Ottawa. His career totals include; 23,419 yards passing, 1,656 completions in 3,078 attempts and 133 touchdowns passed. At one point, he held the record for most passing yards (601) in a CFL game.

In 1985, Barrett saw playing time as a slotback with theCalgary Stampeders hauling in 32 passes for 455 yards and two touchdowns. Barrett also quarterbacked the 1987 Argonauts and the 1991 Stampeders toGrey Cup appearances. In the 1991Grey Cup, Barrett set aCFL record for completions with 34. In 1992, Barrett was selected as the Tom Pate recipient while a member of the BC Lions for his outstanding contributions to the league, his team and his community. This award was voted on by the CFLPA. In 1993, still as a member of the BC Lions, Barrett briefly held the CFL record for passing in a single game, with 601 yards, which was surpassed the following year by Matt Dunigan (713 yards).

Barrett joined the coaching fraternity in 1997 with theCalgary Stampeders. As a first year assistant coach, Barrett was in charge of the Stampeder quarterbacks, which includedJeff Garcia,Dave Dickenson andHenry Burris. In 1998, his first season with theBC Lions, Barrett began the season on the sidelines as the quarterback coach and assistant offensive coordinator but was forced out of retirement and dressed as the Lions’ backup quarterback for 15 games. During the 1999 campaign, Barrett coached the Lions’ receiver corps.

In 1999,Roy Shivers, the former director of player personnel for the Calgary Stampeders, assumed the duties of general manager of the Roughriders. Shivers hired Barrett as the head coach despite the latter's limited coaching experience. The Roughriders made football history by being the first professional team with a black general manager and head coach. The team improved during Barrett's first four seasons, largely because Shivers—an astute appraiser of football talent with many connections to U.S. college teams—recruited and signed better players. In 2003 the team ended with an 11–7 record, and lost a close Western final playoff game to theEdmonton Eskimos. The team seemed on the verge of being championship calibre.

By 2006, after three consecutive .500 seasons—capped by a humiliating 2006 Western final loss to the BC Lions by a score of 45-18—an increasing number of fans began to question the leadership provided by Shivers and Barrett, and Shivers eventually was dismissed by the team's board of directors. On August 23, 2006, the Roughriders hiredEric Tillman as general manager. After a 9-9 season, the Roughriders chose not to renew Barrett’s expired contract, with the parting of ways officially announced by Tillman on November 27, 2006. His overall record as head coach of the Roughriders was 57-68-1.^[1]

On February 7, 2007, Barrett turned down an offensive coordinator position offered by theWinnipeg Blue Bombers, and opted to become the assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach at theUniversity at Buffalo.^[2] He served in this role for three seasons. On December 13, 2009, Barrett was named Buffalo’s interim head coach following the departure ofTurner Gill, who left Buffalo to take the head coaching position at theUniversity of Kansas.^[3][4] His tenure as interim head coach officially ended on January 3, 2010 upon the hiring ofJeff Quinn as Buffalo’s new head coach.^[5]

Barrett spent the 2010 season as the quarterbacks coach forBethune-Cookman University.^[6] On February 10, 2011, it was announced that Barrett would be promoted to offensive coordinator at Bethune-Cookman.^[7] However, on February 21, 2011, it was announced that Barrett chose to leave Bethune-Cookman, joiningUCF as theirrunning backs coach.^[8][9]

On January 14, 2015, UCFKnights.com reported that Barrett was moved from running backs coach to quarterbacks coach atUCF.^[10]

On October 25, 2015, UCFKnights.com reported that Barrett was announced as interim head coach for the remainder of the 2015 season, afterGeorge O'Leary announced his retirement from football.^[11]

On January 23, 2016, Barrett was hired by theMiami Dolphins to be their running backs coach.^[12]

On January 19, 2018, Barrett was hired by theHouston Texans to be their running backs coach.^[13] He was retained by a new coaching staff on March 10, 2021.^[14] He was also retained by the new head coaches in 2022 and 2023 adding the title of assistant head coach in 2023.^[15][16]

• 1961 births
• Living people
• American football quarterbacks
• BC Lions players
• Buffalo Bulls football coaches
• Calgary Stampeders players
• Canadian football quarterbacks
• Canadian football slotbacks
• Cincinnati Bearcats football players
• Houston Texans coaches
• Miami Dolphins coaches
• Ottawa Rough Riders players
• Saskatchewan Roughriders coaches
• Toronto Argonauts players
• UCF Knights football coaches
• Players of American football from Boynton Beach, Florida
• Players of Canadian football from Florida
• African-American coaches of American football
• African-American coaches of Canadian football
• BC Lions coaches
• Calgary Stampeders coaches
• 21st-century African-American sportsmen
• 21st-century American sportsmen
• 20th-century African-American sportsmen
• 20th-century American sportsmen
• Coaches of American football from Florida

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