Lake Winnipesaukee was a childhood playground for Kelly Barsky.
She grew up near Alton Bay, the sword-shaped inlet which stabs four miles past the southeastern edge of New Hampshire’s largest body of water. She knew nothing, however, of the lake’s place in sports history.
“Somebody told me about five years ago that Lake Winnipesaukee was the location of the first intercollegiate athletic event — the Harvard-Yale Regatta of 1852,” she said. “I didn’t know that. I had to go look it up.
“I unknowingly came from the birthplace of intercollegiate athletics.”
But the small-town girl from Alton is now taking a big-time step as the first woman to serve as head Gaucho in the 100 years of UCSB Athletics.
Barsky, a deputy director of athletics for the last eight years, is taking over this week as the university’s athletic director on an interim basis. John McCutcheon officially retired on Dec. 31 after nearly seven years at the post.
Many on campus believe that Barsky will earn the title permanently by the time that Title IX — the federal civil rights law that guarantees gender equity in education — celebrates the 50th anniversary of its passage on June 23.
“I’ve had the great benefit of working for an incredible mentor in John, and certainly other mentors here on campus and across the country,” Barsky said. “John really gave me an opportunity to grow in a lot of ways and get a lot of experience in different areas.”
Change of Direction
She’s come a long way from her hometown of 5,000. But even after the former Kelly Hall made a name for herself as a basketball point guard, ranking second all-time in assists at nearby Keene State, she gave no thought to a future career in college athletics.
“I wanted to be a teacher,” Barsky said. “I received my degrees in education and psychology and started teaching fourth grade at Garrison Elementary in Dover, New Hampshire — and absolutely loved it.
“It was a dream job for me, and I expected to progress in that profession.”
But the University of New Hampshire soon provided a different career path. If offered her the chance to earn a master’s degree in kinesiology while serving as a graduate assistant coach for its men’s basketball team.
“Within a couple of months, that turned into a job with both the men’s and women’s basketball programs,” Barsky recalled. “It gave me this ‘ah-ha’ moment, of knowing just how much I loved the collegiate experience. I’d never realized it until then.
“I could see that just as much growth and development occurs during a traditional collegiate experience as it does in first and second grades … through elementary and secondary schools.
“Being a teacher and mentor to college student-athletes was what I was meant to do. It became my passion.”
She spent two years at UNH and then four more at St. Francis College in Brooklyn as both an assistant coach and senior women’s administrator.
Becoming a Gaucho
Barsky took her leap of faith across the country after UCSB hired Lindsay Gottlieb as its head women’s basketball coach in the spring of 2008. Gottlieb, who had coached with Barsky at New Hampshire, offered her the job as her top assistant.
“It was a little difficult at first because all my family and all of my husband’s family are on the East Coast,” she said. “David and I moved out here with our oldest, Jacob, and we have three children now.
“But from the time we got here, not only our athletics department and our campus community but even our extended Santa Barbara community have been so wonderful and welcoming. It’s felt like a family.”
Barsky helped the Gauchos win two Big West Conference regular-season championships during the next three years. Her journey reached another crossroads, however, when Gottlieb left UCSB to become the head coach at Cal. She opted not to follow her to Berkeley.
“It was a very difficult decision, whether or not I should stay in coaching,” she admitted. “I had just had my daughter, and our mindset was, ‘Let’s take a year and get settled a little bit,’ especially with our two young kids.
“I’d been coaching for over a decade. We decided that I’d take a year and then probably get back into it. I was comfortable and confident with the thought that I had the experience and contacts to do that.”
Another Career Change
Barsky’s break was short-lived, however, when UCSB’s College of Letters & Science offered her a job as an academic adviser.
“I couldn’t believe how much I loved it, working with student-athletes to mentor and guide, and become a participant in their experience,” she said. “It also broadened my experience because I got to work with student-athletes from sports other than basketball.
“That became another eye-opening, ‘ah-ha’ moment, discovering how much I enjoyed learning about the cultures and uniqueness of the different sports.”
Mark Massari, McCutcheon’s predecessor as A.D., brought her onto his staff as his senior women’s administrator in February 2014 after noting her organizational skills and a gift for gab that even Barsky admits is considerable.
“It’s certainly a joke in my house and with others,” she said. “I don’t have the gift of being brief.”
Barsky has handled many of the department’s internal issues ever since, including the management of COVID-19 procedures and protocol. Her efforts have helped UCSB keep its athletes on the playing field better than most universities.
“We’ve been through a couple of pretty difficult years, but I think life is about adversity,” she said. “Sometimes things come up that you can’t control and you didn’t expect.
“You have to be able to handle those and continue to thrive and excel.”
Building a National Reputation
Barsky has established herself even outside UCSB’s athletic community, serving as the Big West representative to the NCAA Division 1 Council as well as on the Women’s Basketball Oversight Committee.
She’s also participated in the NCAA Pathway Program, whose mission is “to elevate senior-level athletics administrators to the next step as directors of athletics or conference commissioners.”
Barsky’s new second-floor office in the Intercollegiate Athletics Building now affords an expansive view of an athletic complex that she helped McCutcheon improve: the Arnhold Tennis Center, Pauley Track, Uyesaka Baseball Stadium and Harder Soccer Stadium.
“These are exciting times for UCSB,” she said. “We’ve had wonderful success certainly on the playing field, but also in academics and facilities development.”
Her greater satisfactions, however, come from such simple things as a thank-you note. She received one from a former Gaucho athlete just before Christmas.
“She hadn’t finished her degree in four years and left, and then started working,” Barsky said. “But she did outreach and then worked with our staff so she could come back and finish her degree.
“She sent me a picture and said, ‘Here’s my diploma — I’m so excited!’ I was actually tearing up about it. I text-messaged some of our staff here and said, ‘This is why we do this.’”
It’s a Family Affair
The mother in her, after all, is not lost in the job. She and David have three children: Jacob, 14, Alexa, 11, and Christian, 6.
“Being a parent keeps you on your toes,” she said. “It keeps you flexible, keeps you grounded, and certainly keeps you in line with the question of, ‘What are our core values, and how do we make decisions off our core values?’ I think it’s the same here in athletics.
“I’m so grateful that I have the most wonderful husband and three kids who support this life in athletics, which is a busy, hectic one. We’ve been on this journey together.”
It’s an odyssey that had an important starting point in small-town New Hampshire, seated at a large, bustling dinner table.
“I come from a pretty big extended family,” Barsky said. “My house was really busy all the time. My mom cooked like there was going to be 30 people showing up to dinner, and a lot of times there were.
“Sunday coffee was a stream of people either at my house or at my grandparents’ house — and for hours. I think that gives some insight into how I lead, and where I find my comfort in athletics. It’s always been a home for me.”
She knows that a maelstrom can whip up inside that Gaucho home as ferociously as those that would churn up Lake Winnipesaukee. It’s how you navigate that turbulence, however, that matters most.
“You learn at the coffee table about when to talk, when to listen, when to support,” Barsky said. “There are times when you disagree and when you might be fighting, but no matter what, you love each other.
“I think I had that great experience at home from my parents and my extended family. You work through it. You handle adversity together.”
It is the creed of the new head of a bustling Gaucho household.
— Noozhawk sports columnist Mark Patton is a longtime local sports writer. Contact him at sports@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook. The opinions expressed are his own.