Head Coach John Baron

Head Coach John Baron enters his 8th season at the helm of the men's basketball program. Over the last seven seasons, he has continued to guide the Gwynedd-Mercy Men's Basketball program into a perennial contender in the Colonial States Athletic Conference and a force the Mid-Atlantic region.

Last season, the team won its fourth conference title and advanced to the second-round of the NCAA Tournament as the team posted a 23-6 mark finished the season receiving votes in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Year-End Poll.

The 2007-08 season saw the Griffins finish 21-10 and reach the its fifth league championship. In addition to winning his 100th career game on January 31st, the Griffins battled through to reach ECAC Tournament Final as the 4th seed. During Baron's seven year tenure, he has guided his teams to the conference playoffs in every season along with a 81-35 record in league play and 135-65 overall record. He ranks 37st nationally of the over 449 Division III coaches in winning percentage.

The 2004-05 season was a special one, where Baron led the Griffins to a 23-5 and 15-1 league mark en route to its second-straight PAC Championship. Gwynedd hosted an NCAA Tournament First-Round Game for the second-straight year.
During the 2003-04 season, Baron impacted the league and the nation after his team went 26-3, winning the PAC Championship, and advancing to its first ever "Sweet 16" appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The team also earned a final ranking of #15 by D3hoops.com. For his efforts, he was named the coach of the year from the league as well as the Philadelphia Small College Coaches Association.

Baron guided and mentored one of the greatest players in Gwynedd-Mercy College history, two-time All American and PAC Player of the Year, Badou Gaye. The 6-9 center went on to become the first student-athlete at Gwynedd-Mercy to be drafted professionally as the USBL's Westchester Wildfire selected him in the second round of its draft in April 2005. Gaye played professionally in Europe in the spring of 2006 and was then drafted by the National Basketball Association Developmental League (NBDL) in October of 2006 by the Idaho Stampeders, an affiliate of the Utah Jazz.

Baron has overseen the development of 12 all-conference performers, three all-region selections and one two-time All-American. His no-nonsense approach to the game and education-first mindset is right in line with the athletic philosophy at Gwynedd-Mercy.

 

Off the court, Baron’s Griffin teams have also enjoyed tremendous success by staying highly involved with yearly community service projects and events. During the fall of 2008 and spring of 2009 semesters, five of his student-athletes were named to the Dean's List and/or achieved a GPA of 3.5 or higher. A consistent emphasis on education and studies saw Baron’s 2008-09 team’s mean GPA hover around the 3.0 mark.

After graduating from York College in 1995, Baron began his coaching career in 1996 at Owen J. Roberts High School in Pottstown, Pa. In 1999, Baron entered the college coaching circle and served as an assistant at Ursinus College. The following year, he was an assistant Gwynedd-Mercy before being named the head coach of the Griffins in 2002. After receiving his BA in Elementary Education from York College in 1995, John completed his master's degree course work at Penn State in curriculum and Instruction.

 

Year	W	L	Pct.	W	L	Pct.	Notes
2002-03	13	13	.500	8	8	.500	PAC Tournament
2003-04	26	3	.896	14	2	.875	PAC Champions/NCAA Sweet 16
2004-05	23	5	.821	15	1	.937	PAC Champions/NCAA Tournament
2005-06	12	15	.444	9	9	.500	PAC Tournament
2006-07	14	13	.518	12	6	.667	PAC Tournament/ECAC Tournament
2007-08	21	10	.677	10	6	.625	PAC Tournament/ECAC Tournament
2008-09	23	6	.793	13	3	.812	CSAC Champions/NCAA Tournament
Totals	132	65	.673	81	35	.698

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