Born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, Barry starred in basketball, baseball, and football in high school in Madison, Wisconsin.

Barry was also a valued part of the USC football teams which claimed national championships in 1931, 1932, and 1939, as well as seven PCC titles and five Rose Bowl victories.

He had not been without success as a head coach himself; his Knox College teams posted a record of 15–12–4 from 1918 to 1921, including a perfect 8–0 mark in 1919.

Not only was the team mourning the loss of Jones, but Barry also found himself facing a schedule in which a majority of USC's opponents were coached by future Hall of Famers, including Paul Brown, Frank Leahy, and Clark Shaughnessy.

And the team made some upsets, defeating Rose Bowl-bound Oregon State, and nearly toppled fourth-ranked Notre Dame on the road in Indiana, falling by only two points.

After leaving the navy in 1945, Barry resumed his positions leading the USC basketball and baseball teams, while also returning as a football assistant under Cravath.

At the 1948 College World Series, the Trojans captured their first title by defeating a Yale team captained by future President George Bush.

Attending a football game in Berkeley at the University of California on September 23, he suffered a heart attack while climbing the hill to Memorial Stadium, and died before reaching the hospital.

Barry's 18 seasons as a USC assistant football coach (1929–1940, 1945–1950) rank second only to the 26 years served by Marv Goux.

His death came just as USC basketball was regaining its pre-war success, on the cusp of the West Coast's 1950s surge in the sport which included teams coached by John Wooden at UCLA, Phil Woolpert at San Francisco, and Pete Newell at California.

Perhaps his most visible legacy is the large number of his players who went on to successful coaching careers in their own right: Sharman, Alex Hannum, Tex Winter, Jack Gardner, Forrest Twogood, and Bob Boyd in basketball, and Rod Dedeaux in baseball.

In addition, Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson got his start in the sport while serving as a USC batboy in the 1940s.

He was the inventor of the triangle offense, which his pupil Tex Winter refined to bring great successes to the NBA champion Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers teams.