GROVE CITY, Pa. – After spending the 2023-24 season as Grove City College's interim head women's basketball coach, Jason Baker has been named the College's head women's basketball coach, effective immediately.
Baker recently completed his third season as the College. He worked as assistant women's basketball coach for two years before taking over as the interim head coach prior to the 2023-24 campaign.
"I am humbled and blessed to be part of the Grove City College community," Baker said. "It has always been a dream of mine to coach at this level and for it to happen here is truly special."
"When we consider coaching candidates, it is imperative that they reflect the core values of Grove City College (Faithfulness, Excellence, Community, Stewardship and Independence) and that the program that they lead reflects those same values," Grove City College athletic director Todd Gibson said. "Jason has embraced these values since coming on to our campus as an assistant coach three years ago, and in his season as our interim coach, Jason and his staff worked daily to uphold them.
"I look forward to continuing to work with Coach Baker, and assistant coaches Lydia Roth and Gaby DeJesus, to build a program that will stand out among Division III women's basketball programs nationally for both our play on the court and our culture off of the court."
Prior to joining the College athletic department, Baker spent four seasons as head girls basketball coach at Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, Ohio. He led the Cardinals to two Steel Valley Conference titles and a 56-32 overall record.
He also worked as head boys basketball coach at Heath (Ohio) and Austintown (Ohio) Fitch High School. Baker spent the 2014-15 season as assistant girls basketball coach at Canfield (Ohio) High School, helping the program win the All-American Conference championship.
Grove City went 10-10 in the tightly-packed and highly-competitive Presidents' Athletic Conference this winter. Senior forward Kat Goetz (Pittsburgh, Pa./Avonworth) earned Honorable Mention All-PAC after finishing among the conference leaders in both scoring and rebound average.
Junior guard Jaden Davinsizer (Harmony, Pa./Seneca Valley) ranked fifth in the league with 52 three-point goals while sophomore guard Reese Hasley (Cheswick, Pa./Deer Lakes) ranked third in the conference with 92 assists.
"Coach Baker has a proven track record of building winning programs, having coached high-level high school basketball in Ohio and winning multiple championships during his career," Gibson said.
"Working daily with Coach Baker over the past year has given us a unique opportunity to have in-depth conversations on every facet of our women's basketball program. This allows us to clearly say that we believe in his plan for the future of Wolverine women's basketball and we will do all that we can to support it.
"We are excited to see his recruiting plan and for his offensive and defensive systems to take hold. We expect to compete for conference championships while providing the best basketball experience possible for the young women on our team, now and in the future."
