The 1940s
After Jones' sudden death in 1941, Barry was a natural choice to take over the reins of the football team, thus becoming head coach of all three major team sports simultaneously. 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. The 1941 USC football team finished with a losing record. 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. Injuries and illnesses also took their toll, depleting the roster at one point to a mere 28 players. Despite these roadblocks, Barry put together a team which improved offensively throughout the year, gaining popularity as the season progressed. The crowd of 86,305 at the USC-Stanford game was the largest in the nation in 1941. And the team made some upsets, defeating Rose Bowl-bound Oregon State, and nearly toppling 4th-ranked Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana before falling by only two points.
In 1942, other concerns took precedence as Barry entered the Navy for service during World War II. He recommended Jeff Cravath to take over his duties as USC football coach, Julie Bescos as basketball coach, and Rod Dedeaux as baseball coach for the duration of the war. As a lieutenant commander, Barry was in charge of physical and military training of Navy personnel in the South Pacific, for which he would later receive a Naval Commendation from then Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal.
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. He began to restore the basketball program to a nationally competitive level, and found his greatest success yet in baseball. At the 1948 College World Series, the Trojans captured their first title by defeating a Yale team captained by future President George Bush. The Trojans had a chance to repeat in 1949, but were eliminated when they suffered a pair of extra-inning losses to Wake Forest, both by 2–1 scores.
As the years passed, however, it became evident that Barry was suffering physically from the stress of his various responsibilities. Despite medical warnings, he agreed only to give up coaching the football scout team, continuing as head coach of two sports and serving as chief scout and sideline assistant in football. It was while scouting a USC opponent that he died. Attending a football game at the University of California, Berkeley on September 23, 1950, he suffered a heart attack while climbing the hill to Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, and died before reaching the hospital.
At USC's next home football game—fittingly, against Iowa—the student body paid tribute to Barry during halftime, taking the field in a block "SC" formation and, after the Coliseum lights were turned out, lighting matches on the field of the darkened stadium for a minute of silence in memory of the coach. He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.
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