He served as the interim head coach for the UCF Knights in 2015, and is a former Canadian Football League (CFL) quarterback.
In 1992, Barrett was selected as the Tom Pate recipient while a member of the BC Lions for his outstanding contributions to the league, his team and his community.
As a first year assistant coach, Barrett was in charge of the Stampeder quarterbacks, which included Jeff Garcia, Dave Dickenson and Henry Burris.
In 1999, Roy Shivers, the former director of player personnel for the Calgary Stampeders, assumed the duties of general manager of the Roughriders.
The Roughriders made football history by being the first professional team with a black general manager and head coach.
The team improved during Barrett's first four seasons, largely because Shivers—an astute appraiser of football talent with many connections to U.S. college teams—recruited and signed better players.
On February 7, 2007, Barrett turned down an offensive coordinator position offered by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and opted to become the quarterbacks and assistant head coach at the University at Buffalo.
The move followed the departure of Turner Gill, who left Buffalo to take the head coaching position at the University of Kansas.