Barassi was determined to follow in his father's footsteps at Melbourne, and heavy lobbying by the club to recruit him resulted in the introduction of the father–son rule, still in use by the AFL today.

In 1964, in what has been called "the most audacious signing in league history", Barassi left Melbourne for a lucrative contract at Carlton.

Retiring from playing in 1969, he coached Carlton to two premierships, including a record-breaking grand final comeback in 1970 before what remains the largest crowd in football history; Barassi's famous half-time injunction to his men to play on from marks and handball at all costs came to be remembered as "the birth of modern football".

[2] Barassi retired from professional football in 1971, but he was lured back two years later to coach North Melbourne.

In 1981, after leading the club to its first two premierships, he returned to an ailing Melbourne, where he initiated the "Irish experiment": the recruitment of Gaelic footballers into Australian rules.

His stint at Melbourne, followed by another at the Sydney Swans in 1993–95, proved vital in rebuilding those clubs as viable members of the competition.

His clean record and passion for the game―exemplified by his campaigning for the establishment of a national club-level competition―earned him a place as a celebrity and popular culture figure in Australia.

A pugnacious rover, Barassi's father was a reserve in the Demons' 1940 premiership team before leaving to serve with the army in North Africa, where he died in the Siege of Tobruk.

After his father's death at Tobruk in 1941, a group of players and officials at the Melbourne Football Club pledged to support his widow, Elza, and her young son.

As a teenager, Barassi was determined to follow in his father's footsteps at the Demons, but the zoning system of the day required him to play for either Collingwood or Carlton.

[6] To ensure he played with the Demons, Melbourne went to the VFL and successfully lobbied for the creation of a father–son rule to allow clubs preferential recruiting access to the sons of players who have made a major past contribution to the team (50-game minimum at launch).

The club had gone to great lengths to recruit the young Barassi, and coach Norm Smith took him under his wing after his mother moved to Tasmania.

Looking back on the experience, Barassi believed that living with the man who was voted as the coach of the AFL's Team of the Century had a profound impact on his development.

[6] The image of Barassi breaking a tackle in the 1957 Grand Final is captured in Jamie Cooper's painting The Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport.

[6] Carlton offered Barassi a chance to test his skills as coach with a professional wage which would help with his children's education.

Drawing from his own experience under Norm Smith, Barassi forced his squad to become more disciplined and committed to the club—and their career.

In mid-1969, he retired from playing, he had played one game and torn his hamstring, but continued as non-playing coach, ultimately going down to Richmond in the 1969 VFL Grand Final by 25 points; however, in the 1970 Grand Final, in front of the biggest-ever VFL crowd, he led Carlton to arguably football's most famous comeback by defeating Collingwood, who were leading by 44 points at half-time.

In the drawn grand final, Barassi made major positional changes, including placing North Melbourne Team of the Century full-back and captain David Dench into the forward line, which sparked North Melbourne's comeback to get back in front until Ross Dunne kicked a late goal to draw the game.

[20] During his coaching career at North Melbourne he survived a car crash, which caused life-threatening injuries and resulted in the loss of his spleen.

[5] After retiring from coaching, Barassi remained a prominent Australian rules football celebrity and a figure of popular culture.

[5] In 1996, he became an inaugural inductee in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, one of few former greats to be bestowed the honour of the "Legend" category.

He is also one of only three Australian rules footballers in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, alongside Leigh Matthews and Ted Whitten.

[31] Barassi was one of the last runners in the Queen's Baton Relay for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, being held in Melbourne, Australia, from 15 to 26 March.

His section of the relay, run on 15 March, involved taking the baton from a series of pontoons in the middle of the Yarra River onto shore.

It was handed to him by David Neitz, captain of the Melbourne Football Club (the team with which Barassi was long associated).

In 2015, Barassi collaborated with singer-songwriter Tex Perkins on the song "One Minute's Silence", a tribute to the diggers who died at Gallipoli.

[38] In September 2003, a bronze statue depicting Barassi kicking based on a famous photograph was unveiled at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.