Buena Vista University

Barner, an Audubon, Iowa native, comes to BVU after spending the past four seasons as head men's wrestling coach at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., where he guided the Ravens to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in program history, including a school record for dual wins in 2025-26. He was named the fourth coach of the program prior to 2021-22, and in that first season at the helm, he coached the program’s first NAIA automatic national qualifier in seven years.

Prior to taking over at Benedictine, Barner spent two seasons as head men’s wrestling coach and director of strength and conditioning at Cleary University in Howell, Mich. During that tenure, he more than tripled the roster size in his first season and went on to produce the school’s first-ever winning season, coached a pair of national qualifiers, six all-conference wrestlers and four scholar All-Americans.

Barner is also no stranger to the American Rivers Conference. After beginning his collegiate career wrestling at Iowa Central Community College, he moved on and finished his undergraduate career at Central College in Pella where he became a three-time letterwinner on the wrestling team for the Dutch. He went on and earned his degree in Exercise Science in 2014. Barner later served as an assistant coach at Simpson College (2019-20) and helped produce a pair of all-conference wrestlers as well as the program’s highest-ranked national individual in over a decade.

Following his graduation from Central College, Barner began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Briar Cliff University (2014-16) and earned his Master of Arts degree in Management in 2015. He also spent time as an assistant coach at Concordia College-Moorehead (2019-20).

Barner and his wife, Cassidy, have two girls – Avery (2 years) and Lainey (born early in 2026).