David Barrett begins his sixth season with the Stags after being introduced as head coach in 2018. Barrett holds over 20 years of experience as a head coach with six Coach of the Year awards in his career.

Since coming to Fairfield, Barrett helped the Stags to 43 victories, four MAAC Championship Tournament appearances, and the 2022 MAAC Regular Season Championship, the first for the program in a decade.

Under his guidance, the Stags have been honored with 21 All-MAAC selections with eight named to the All-MAAC First Team. Fairfield has also had two MAAC Rookie of the Years and the 2022 MAAC Defensive Player of the Year.  Fairfield earned a program-record eight All-MAAC selections in both 2019 and 2022. Three players have also earned All-Region distinctions with Gabby Diodati and Maddie Mills also recording All-New England honors.

Barrett also brought mentored the 2022 ECAC Rookie of the Year in Maddy Theriault, the first rookie in program history to earn that accolade. She finished eighth among all freshmen in the country with 21 points and 10th with her eight goals. She was also named to the College Sports News All-Freshmen Third Team.

After the 2019 season, Barrett earned the BSN MAAC Coach of the Year, his sixth conference Coach of the Year award after earning five honors by the College Conference of Illinois Wisconsin (CCIW) during his 17 years with Illinois Wesleyan.

Barrett has helped the Stags improve on both sides of the pitch. The squad has totaled 100 goals over the last three full seasons to combine for 34 wins.

Barrett came to Fairfield after 17 years as the Head Coach at Illinois Wesleyan University achieving significant postseason success during his tenure and earning NCAA tournament bids in eight of his last nine years while recording an overall winning percentage of .712.

With an overall record as a head coach of 277-114-45, Barrett was named the 2015 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Central Region Coach of the Year. He was also a finalist for NSCAA Women’s Division III National Coach of the Year in 2014 and 2015. Through Barrett’s guidance, the woman’s soccer program has produced 81 All-CCIW selections, 38 regional selections, seven All-Americans and five Academic All-Americans. 

As the Head Coach of Illinois Wesleyan, Barrett’s teams reached the postseason every year since 2002, appearing in the conference tournament finals ten times and the NCAA tournament ten times including eight of the last nine years. His last four seasons for Illinois Wesleyan have been four of the best in school history. Each year the program either won the conference title or finished as the runner-up and was followed by a trip to the NCAA tournament. In 2014, Barrett led the Titans to the NCAA Division III semi-finals finishing with an overall record of 18-7-1 and a final ranking of #4 in the national poll. One year later, his squad broke their own single season wins record with 20 victories, which included a trip to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 and a #9 ranking in the final national poll.

 Prior to Illinois Wesleyan, Barrett was an Assistant Men’s Soccer Coach at Yale from 1997-2001. In 1999, the Bulldogs recorded a 13-5-1 season including a trip to the NCAA Round of 16 and finished the season with a #18 ranking in the national poll. In addition to his head coaching duties in Bloomington, Barrett also held the roles of Associate Professor of Physical Education and the Director of Intramurals for the school.

Barrett graduated with honors from Wesleyan University with a bachelor’s degree in American Studies. He was the starting goalkeeper for the Cardinals for over three seasons including 41 straight games in net. In 1991, Wesleyan finished 15-1-1 earning the E.C.A.C. and Little Three Championship finishing the season with a #7 national ranking. Barrett is the current school record holder for career wins and goals against average. Additionally, he received a master’s degree in Psychology from Illinois State University with a concentration in sport and physical activity. David and his wife, Kelly, have a son named Sam and two daughters, Riley and Harper. Kelly’s sister, Jennifer (Totte) Reed graduated from Fairfield in 1989 and her father, Lou Totte is a member of the class of 1963.