To Contact Coach Baxter:
mbaxter@monmouth.edu
MICHELE BAXTER begins her third full season as head coach of the Monmouth University women's basketball program this year. The fifth head coach in the Hawks' history, Baxter has led Monmouth to the Northeast Conference Tournament in each of her first two full seasons as head coach, including last year's run to the conference semifinals. This season, she returns all but one player from last year's squad and has the team poised to make a run into unchartered waters, the NEC Tournament Championship.
Under Baxter, last year’s team enjoyed its best season in three years, and was a few minutes away from playing for the Northeast Conference Championship. This year's squad will return all five starters and nearly 95.0% of its scoring in 2007-08. Last year, the Hawks won 18 games for only the second time since 1987-88 campaign.
The Hawks went 18-13 last season, including finishing in a fourth-place tie at 10-8 in the vastly-improved Northeast Conference. The NEC was the 21st-rated conference in the country last season, as three teams amassed at least 20 wins. The 10 conference wins MU totaled this season marks the ninth straight year the Hawks have won double-digit conference games.
The Hawks also enjoyed unprecedented success in their non-conference schedule, going 8-5, the most non-league wins MU has had since joining the NEC. Included in those eight wins are victories over Marshall at the Caribbean Classic in Cancun, Mexico as well as Lehigh and American of the Patriot League.
The Hawks ranked fourth in the NEC in both scoring offense (63.9 points per game) and scoring defense (62.7 points allowed), while ranking second in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to connect on only 38.0% of their shots.
Baxter was announced as the school’s new women’s basketball head coach on March 5, 2005. In 2004-05, Baxter entered her fifth season at Monmouth University as Associate Head Coach after spending her first four seasons with the women's basketball squad as an assistant coach under Jackie DeVane.
She was elevated to Interim Head Coach status in January after the departure of DeVane, leading the Blue and White to an 8-4 record throughout the remainder of the campaign, and a fourth straight Northeast Conference Tournament appearance. That team also posted the first-ever 9-0 mark in league games in Boylan Gym in school history.
As she enters fer third full season as coach, her record at Monmouth stands at 40-31, including a 29-19 mark in the NEC.
The Hawks' 14-14 record two seasons ago included going 7-6 on the road, their best record away from Boylan Gym since the 2002-2003 season.
Baxter also led Monmouth to 11 conference victories, the eighth straight year the Hawks' have won double-digit conference games.
Monmouth, during Baxter's first two plus season's has played two nationally-ranked teams (Auburn, Maryland) and in 2005-06, the Blue and White faced three team that qualified for the 2005 NCAA Tournament (Rice, Maryland, St. Francis [Pa.].
Prior to arriving at MU, Baxter served as associate head coach at Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College from 1998-2000. At Tallahassee, she was involved in all aspects of recruiting and scouting.
During her two-year stay, the Eagles compiled a 50-19 record and finished second in the state both seasons. The squad also finished as Panhandle Conference runner-up in 1999 and 2000. Prior to her tenure at TCC, Baxter also served as head coach of the Gold Coast Raiders, an AAU boys under-17 program for seven years. Twenty players coached by Baxter moved on to play college basketball.
A native of Oxford, Michigan, Baxter graduated from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York, in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in communications and was a member of the Cardinals’ volleyball squad.
