What convinced Luke Barnwell to leave Sunrise basketball for Texas Tech assistant job

Luke Barnwell was sure he was going to retire at Sunrise Christian Academy.

He had elevated the school’s elite team into one of the top prep programs in the country and for someone with a strong Christian faith, coaching at the tiny private school in Bel Aire, Kansas was the perfect set up.

Countless NCAA Div. I coaches had tried to convince Barnwell to leave in recent years, but the coach wouldn’t leave for anything less than a special situation.

That special situation materialized earlier this summer when Grant McCasland was hired as head coach at Texas Tech and brought along assistants Matt Braeuer, a former Wichita State standout player, and Achoki Moikobu, a former assistant under Barnwell at Sunrise. Barnwell officially joined the college basketball ranks on July 1 and has been recruiting for the Red Raiders since.

“I’m a people person and the people are what led me to Texas Tech,” Barnwell told The Eagle. “I got to know coach McCasland a few years ago at North Texas and his way of coaching is so much more than just the round ball going in. It’s about leadership and doing things the right way and I was immediately attracted to that because that’s the way I want to coach. I know both of the assistants, so it’s like one big family.”

Another critical factor that played into Barnwell’s decision to finally leave after 10 years was knowing the program would be in good hands with Kyle Lindsted, who originally created the program and handed it off to Barnwell in 2015 to enter the college basketball coaching ranks himself.

After spending six years as an assistant coach at Wichita State and Minnesota, Lindsted returned to Wichita last year and coached Sunrise’s post-grad team on top of serving as an NBA regional scout.

“It’s reassuring to know coach Lindsted is right here, ready to keep it going and probably improve it,” Barnwell said. “He’s better at it than I was. I feel at peace with where Sunrise is at and I’m forever indebted to the time I spent here. Sunrise developed me as a man and as a follower of Christ and it changed my life. It wasn’t what I necessarily wanted when I started coaching, but it was exactly what I needed.”

Lindsted had the program trending toward the best in the country, then Barnwell took Sunrise there — and kept the program there. He was named the 2021 and 2022 Naismith High School Boys Basketball Coach of the Year and led Sunrise to the 2022 National Interscholastic Basketball Conference championship, as well as five straight trips to GEICO Nationals and a 178-28 record with the elite team the last eight seasons.

While Barnwell felt at peace handing the program back to Lindsted, Lindsted felt that exact way when he left in 2015.

“It’s really gratifying to see where we had it set up and the heights that Luke took it to,” Lindsted said. “I can’t say I was totally shocked because I think I knew Luke was the real deal back then and he was going to do a great job at whatever he puts his mind and heart to.

“The fact that his first stop is with Grant McCasland and AC and Matt, you couldn’t ask for a better first opportunity. He’s getting to do it at the highest level with really, really good people and that’s what you want.”

It’s been a whirlwind summer for Barnwell, who also got married to his now wife, Emily, took an overseas honeymoon trip and then made the monumental decision to leave Sunrise for Texas Tech.

Change can be scary, but for Barnwell, an Emporia native who is just 33, he is more excited about his new life ahead of him in Lubbock.

“I think you could probably put a bunch of different adjectives for how I’m feeling,” Barnwell said. “Definitely excited for the opportunity that we get to have coaching in the Big 12, then also for my wife and I to start our lives together in a new area. That’s going to be a challenge, but one I think is going to grow us closer together and maybe it’s the place where we start our family, Lord willing.

“I just feel so much at peace about it all. I’m a prayerful man and praying about it, this just feels like what God wants.”