If there were a Mount Rushmore of women’s athletics administrators at Arizona, it would be an easy selection: Mary Roby, Rocky LaRose, Ina Gittings and, now, Erika Barnes.
Gittings and Roby have buildings named after them on the UA campus. The walkway to McKale Center is known as Rocky LaRose Legacy Lane.
No one has named anything after Barnes yet, but someone recently paid for a large billboard on East Grant Road that says, “Thank you, Erika Barnes. BearDownforLife.com.”
Barnes
Barnes, a member of Arizona’s 2001 NCAA softball championship team, has been a pillar of the UA athletic department for 15 years, under ADs Jim Livengood, Greg Byrne, Dave Heeke and now Desireé Reed-Francois. Sadly to those who have known and worked with her, Barnes is leaving the UA athletic department, where she has essentially been the No. 2 person behind four ADs.
Barnes, who has not revealed her future employment plans, held a going-away party Friday night at Dirtbags, attended by Tommy Lloyd and dozens of the school’s top donors, fans, friends and Barnes’ former co-workers. How big of a loss is her departure for Arizona? It’s like losing a first-round NCAA Tournament basketball game to Princeton or East Tennessee State.
