Kevin Barnes, Lithonia head coach
Today’s interviewee is Lithonia coach Kevin Barnes, whose team defeated 15-point favorite Tucker 27-20 in a game between DeKalb County rivals last week. Tucker had won 12 consecutive games in the series dating to 1992. Barnes, a graduate of nearby Redan High, got the Lithonia job in 2024, with the Bulldogs coming off 1-9 and 0-10 seasons. Barnes had been coaching at Stockbridge, which had just reached the Class 4A championship game. Lithonia was 6-4 in Barnes’ first season and now stands 3-0.
1. What did the Tucker win mean to the program? “It’s avenging one of our four losses last year. It was disappointing going 6-4 and not getting into any postseason. We were No. 5 in the region and the first team out of the playoffs. This doesn’t relieve all the tension, but it’s a relief to know we’ve gotten one under your belt.” [Lithonia is favored in four more games, according to the Maxwell Ratings. Seven victories would be the most for Lithonia since 1994.]
2. What is different about this year’s team that gave you the advantage in this game vs. last year’s game? “We came out and attacked them physically. Last year when I got hired in February, we didn’t have an opportunity to implement a full offseason. This year, we committed to the weight room and we committed to nutrition and came out a bigger and faster team than we were. Last year, we were getting blown off the ball a little bit. That was one of the things we made sure we changed this year.” [Lithonia took a 20-0 lead early in the third quarter with Zachary McCalla's two field goals scoring touchdowns set up by Edward Roberts’ 51-yard interception return and the recovery of a muffed punt at the Tucker 1-yard line.]
3. What has been the most important thing that you and your staff have done since you took over the program? “The main thing I did was getting some good guys around me. We have a great staff that believes in Lithonia. We have guys that were alumni and have a lot of pride and love for the school and could keep kids in Lithonia from leaving. We were keeping kids from Lithonia in Lithonia. And we had a lot of kids walking around in school that didn’t want to play football because there wasn’t a winning culture here. It was just proving to them that I care more about them than just for football. Then we had some guys to get scholarship offers last year [nine signed] and were able to change their lives. We did have a lot of freshmen that had played on varsity and just weren’t experienced enough to get over the hump. This year they’re starting to believe a little more.” [Lithonia alumni on staff include Rober' Freeman, a former NFL player; Clifford “Gator” Browning, who played arena ball with the Georgia Force; Jimmie Kitchens, who played at Georgia Tech; Jordan Roman, who played at Alabama A&M; and Cardinal Falaise.]
4. How has the program grown since? “My first weightlifting session, only seven showed up. I had two parents at the first parent meeting. By the time we got to spring, we’d gotten up to about 45. We had enough to win a spring game. We played Salem last year and were able to get a victory. Salem wasn’t a great team, but we weren’t either. Tasting that victory catapulted us. That summer we had about 75 coming out. Now, we’re standing strong with about 110 in the program.”
