Bobby Barbier said his path to the Northwestern State head baseball coaching position started when he stepped on campus 14 years ago.

In introducing Barbier as NSU baseball’s 12th coach in program history Monday, NSU Director of Athletics Greg Burke showed the assembled crowd in the Stroud Room proof of Barbier’s commitment to landing the position.

“Last week when Bobby and I talked, I was in Indianapolis at an NCAA meeting, and I told him what we wanted to do,” Burke said. “I reminded him four years ago when we were looking for a baseball coach, he called me and said, ‘Hey, I want to talk to you about the job.’ (Barbier’s wife) Kody was with us, and we sat in my office for about an hour and talked about that job.”

Burke then produced a bound “blueprint of success” with a purple cover page and Barbier’s name.

“This wasn’t something Bobby gave me last week,” Burke said. “This is something he gave me four years ago. This is how much he loves this university. This is how much he has prepared himself for this job. This is Bobby Barbier’s blueprint on how he will lead Demon baseball to greater heights than have already be achieved.”

With his wife, his daughter, his parents and his paternal grandparents seated in front of him, Barbier joined Burke in holding up a No. 30 purple pinstriped Demons baseball uniform top before thanking his assembled family – both genealogical and baseball-related.

At times fighting to hold back tears, Barbier thanked his parents, even as he struggled to focus on them.

“We’re bringing in a guy that bleeds purple to lead the B-Stro Boys,” NSU President Dr. Jim Henderson said. “He led them to one of the greatest ERA seasons in our history this year, ranking ninth in the country. He has helped build a team, build a program into something we can be proud of, and he’s done it the right way.

“In the 18th months I’ve been at Northwestern State, I don’t know that I’ve been prouder to bring someone to this new level of serving this university. We understand what those three columns represent. When you can bring a guy like Bobby Barbier to be the head coach of Northwestern State baseball, it’s a great day to be a Demon.”