California Collegiate Athletics Association

Danny Barnts is in his fifth season working for the California Collegiate Athletic Association as the Director of Communications. He joined the CCAA in August 2021 and oversees all aspects of the conference's communication.
 
Duties that fall under Barnts include Player of the Week, CCAA on FloCollege, the Hall of Fame, and more. He oversees all aspects of the website and social media, which has seen over 600% growth in the conference's Instagram following. He has helped institute a number of initiatives at the conference, including Game of the Week, Highlight of the Month, the Mental Health Initiative, and more.
 
Barnts is also in his second year as chair of the D2CIDA committee, which comprises all the conference sports information directors in NCAA Division II. He served a three-year term on the Collegiate Sports Information Directors (CoSIDA) Board of Directors starting in the summer of 2016. He was an at-large representative for the college division and served on the Academic All-American committee. He was also vice chair of the CoSIDA Advocacy Committee.
 
Before joining the CCAA, Barnts worked at Point Loma Nazarene University for over nine seasons in the communications office, the last seven as the Assistant Athletic Director. At PLNU, he oversaw communications for all 11 teams, including when the men's basketball team made a run to the national championship game (2018-19).
 
In 2017-18, PLNU was awarded the PacWest Sports Information Department of the Year for the second straight year. It is an award voted on and determined by the other SIDs in the PacWest.
 
He joined PLNU after spending four years as the Sports Information Director at Western Oregon University. In his early years, Barnts served as a graduate assistant to the sports information director at Boise State University for two years, serving as the primary media contact for golf, tennis, and track and field and assisting with the football program. In 2008, he earned his master’s degree in Athletic Administration while serving as a graduate assistant.
 
Barnts earned his undergraduate degree from Washington State University, where he served as the primary media contact for Washington State's swimming program and assisted with the women's basketball program.  In 2005, he was named Outstanding Senior Male in Sport Management of his senior class.
 
Barnts has also worked with the Las Vegas 51s, the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers; served as a statistician for ESPN and Westwood One; and served as a sideline coordinator for Fox during the 2007 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
 
He was born in Crescent City, Calif., in 1983 to Sonia and Dan Barnts. He married Kim Chao in the summer of 2019. The couple has two children: Aliana and Lincoln.