Jim Baron Position: Head Coach Experience: 8th year Education: B.S., St. Bonaventure, '77 M.S., St. Bonaventure, '88

Coaching:
Assistant coach, Rochester, 1978-79
Assistant coach, Loyola (Md.), 1979-80
Assistant coach, St. Bonaventure, 1980-81
Assistant coach, Notre Dame, 1981-87
Head Coach, St. Francis (Pa.), 1987-92
Head Coach, St. Bonaventure, 1992-01
Head Coach, Rhode Island, 2001-present

Throughout Jim Baron's head coaching career, he has consistently built programs from the ground up.

Baron's foundation to success includes many factors to develop student-athletes, on and off the court; tireless work toward improving as a basketball player: academic diligence; and physical, mental, and emotional growth. Baron believes those three principles will ultimately lead to success over the student-athletes' career at the University of Rhode Island.

Over the last two seasons, the Rams have seen that success on the court. URI has averaged 20 wins, advancing to the 2007 Atlantic 10 Championship and the 2008 National Invitation Tournament.

Additionally, through Baron's guidance, the "Runnin' Rams" have made a return to the Ryan Center hardwood. Rhode Island ranked 12th nationally in points per game during the 2007-08 season, pouring in 80.5 points per game. Over the last two seasons, URI ranks among the highest scoring teams in the nation, averaging 78.3 points per game.

The 2007-08 campaign marked two major coaching milestones for Baron. On Nov. 28, 2007 the Rams took a 92-72 victory over Northeastern at the Ryan Center, Baron won his 300th career game as a head coach. Later that season, Baron became the fourth coach in University of Rhode Island history to reach the triple-digit mark in victories, garnering win #100 versus Georgia Southern on Dec. 29, 2007.

From Dec. 24, 2007-Jan. 21, 2008 - Baron guided the Rams to the program's first national rankings in close to a decade. URI reached as high as #22 on the Associated Press poll and #20 on the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll. It was the first time Rhode Island spent four consecutive weeks in the national rankings since the 1997-98 season.

Baron also guided the 2007-08 Rams to the best start in the program's 101-year history, racing out to a 14-1 mark through the first 15 games. The squad was also the fastest to reach the 20-win mark in URI history, with its win at Fordham on Feb. 10, 2008. It was the third 20-win season for Baron while at the helm of the Rams.

Seniors Will Daniels and Parfait Bitee were honored by the Atlantic 10 Conference for their outstanding play. Daniels earned a spot on the watch list for two prestigious national awards: the Naismith and the Lowe's Senior CLASS awards. He was named to the 2007-08 All-Atlantic 10 First Team - the first URI player since 1997-98 (Tyson Wheeler) and just the third in program history (Carlton "Silk" Owens) to earn consecutive spots on the all-league first team roster. Bitee was one of five players honored as part of the 2007-08 Atlantic 10 All-Defensive squad.

Over the last five years, 17 of his student-athletes have earned their degrees, including two members of the class of 2008 and five seniors in the class of 2006. To Baron, success includes winning on the court in March and on graduation day in May.

Academics are such a strong focal point for Baron that all student-athletes receive a booklet that defines to the letter what is expected of them off the court. The booklet contains six rules, 10 goals and 16 expectations that cover everything from academics to appearance, character to conditioning -- an owner's manual for winners. The attention to such detail has brought a discipline and order to the program.

"It takes time to truly build a program," Baron said. "It's a continual process that we are carefully working on. We want our players to do it in the classroom, not just on the court. Developing these young men in all phases of life is very important to us."

He has instilled a high level of respectability on the court as well. When he came to Kingston, he inherited a team coming off a dismal 12-48 stretch. It was a program in disarray, but it didn't take long for Baron to change everything for the better.

Baron's 2006-07 team was picked to finish 11th according to the Atlantic 10 Preseason Coaches Poll. But the team would defy the predictions, spending most of the season atop the A-10 standings. URI would enter the 2007 conference championship with the #4 seed and advance all the way to the championship game on ESPN, before losing to George Washington. Will Daniels earned a spot on the All-Atlantic 10 First Team, while Jimmy Baron was an honorable mention selection.

For his efforts, Baron earned his third career A-10 Coach of the Year award - joining Phil Martelli, John Calipari, and Hall of Famer John Cheney as the only coaches to win the award three or more times.

After struggling to an 8-20 mark in his first season, Rhode Island went 20-11 in 2002-03, advancing to the second round of the NIT. The quick and impressive turnaround earned Baron Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year honors in just his second season in Kingston.

Baron's success carried over to the 2003-04 season, as the Rams posted a 20-14 mark and again advanced to the second round of the NIT. Included in the stretch run was a visit from Dick Vitale and the ESPN college basketball crew, who traveled to Kingston for a nationally televised game between the Rams and then-undefeated and #2 ranked Saint Joseph's.

The 2004-05 team played to a 14-14 overall record, including an 8-8 mark in Atlantic 10 play - good for seventh in the conference. The record includes a win over in-state rivals Providence and Brown, while also stringing together a five-game win streak in A-10 play in January, despite losing preseason first-team All-Atlantic 10 Dawan Robinson along with projected starter Jamaal Wise prior to the start of the season. In all, players missed nearly 100 games due to injury.

Baron's success in Kingston follows a similar pattern throughout his 21-year career as a head coach. When he took over at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure, he resurrected a program that had fallen from its glory days. This was a program that once won 29 consecutive games. But by the time Baron, a former Bonnies standout, came home to his alma mater as head coach, the program was in shambles.

He rebuilt the program at St. Bonaventure in short order. Taking over a program that had gone 22-60 (.262) over the three previous years prior to his arrival, Baron returned to Olean, N.Y. in 1992 and changed the fortunes of the Bonnies. In his third season at St. Bonaventure (1994-95), Baron earned his first Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year award. In his final two seasons at SBU, Baron led the Bonnies to a 39-21 mark, including the school's first NCAA bid in 22 years.

His 1999-2000 team went 21-10, reached the Atlantic 10 tournament final for only the second time in school history and became a Cinderella story in the NCAA tournament. In a memorable first-round game, the Bonnies battled heavily favored Kentucky into double overtime before falling, 85-80.

Besides earning three trips to the postseason (1 NCAA bid, 2 NIT) and posting a 132-131 mark with a program not used to winning, Baron graduated 95 percent of his players at St. Bonaventure. At St. Francis (Pa.), it was 100 percent.

Baron also resurrected the program at St. Francis whose basketball teams had faded since the days of the late Maurice Stokes. Taking over a program that had posted six consecutive losing seasons, Baron and the Red Flash reached the NCAA Tournament in 1990-91, the only NCAA Tournament appearance in school history.

During his playing days, Baron made basketball history at St. Bonaventure, where he suited up from 1973-77. The Bonnies went 73-28 over his four years, capped by a 24-6 record and the NIT championship in 1976-77. Co-captain as a senior, he led the club in assists, made the dean's list and won the coveted title Ideal St. Bonaventure Student, the highest honor bestowed by the university. He graduated in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in physical education and added a master's degree in counseling in 1986.

Baron's prep school days were spent at St. John's Prep in Brooklyn, where he set the school's scoring record and spent the summers on the city's playgrounds.

Baron got his start in coaching at the high school level at Aquinas in Rochester. The coaching trail also took him to stops at Rochester, Loyola (Md.), St. Bonaventure (where he would later return as the head coach) and Notre Dame to fill in the pieces of his coaching resume before he landed his first collegiate head coaching job at St. Francis.

On the international level, he coached the Panamanian national team to a 37-13 record in five seasons. The squad competed in the 1982 World Cup, the 1983 Latin American championships, the 1987 Pan American Games and the 1992 Pre-Olympics.

Off the court, Baron has always found time for community activities. For the last 15 years, he's helped run the basketball clinics for Special Olympians held at each Final Four. He's spent summers at the Green Valley Youth Camp for troubled youth in upstate New York.

Since coming to Rhode Island, Baron has raised money for the families of New York City firefighters killed on September 11, 2001 and the families of those who lost their lives in the tragic nightclub fire in Warwick, R.I. He has also taken an active role in the annual Coaches vs. Cancer fundraising drive. He's spoken to civic groups, hosted his TV and radio shows, run a summer basketball camp and continued to serve on the international committee of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

Baron is married to the former Cindy Imus, an accomplished painter whose watercolors have been exhibited throughout the country. The couple has two sons: Jimmy and Billy. Jimmy is a senior on the Rhode Island basketball team.

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