New GSU women's coach a ‘perfect' choice
Sharon Baldwin-Tener grew up in Smyrna and played her college ball at Georgia. Her first three coaching jobs were inside state lines.
After eight years at East Carolina, she was not about to pass up the opportunity to come back to Atlanta to coach Georgia State.
"It's unbelievable," Baldwin-Tener said Friday, when she was introduced as the Panthers' new coach. "To be able to try to build a premier program 15, 20 miles from where you grew up, you can't ask for anything better than that."
Baldwin-Tener, 42, was the first choice of athletics director Cheryl Levick. Baldwin also is the fourth head coach that Levick has hired since coming to the school in March 2009. Levick described Baldwin-Tener as "the perfect person for us."
The resume speaks well for her. At East Carolina, she built a program that was 6-21 the season before her arrival into one that finished above .500 in four of her past five seasons and in 2007 went to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1982. The Pirates went 23-11 this past season.
Before that, she served as Georgia coach Andy Landers' top assistant, helping land four eventual All-Americans. She left Georgia to start Life University's basketball team and went 31-3 in her second season. She left Life for Mercer, where she was named the Atlantic Sun Conference coach of the year in 2002 in her only season in Macon.
At East Carolina, every player who finished her eligibility graduated, she said.
When Levick spoke with Landers, a longtime colleague, he told her to "Hire her, hire her, hire her," according to Levick.
Baldwin-Tener, who was the state AAAA player of the year at Wills High School in Smyrna (since closed) and was a middle-school classmate of actress Julia Roberts, said she had had other opportunities to leave East Carolina. She actually came for her interview at Georgia State expecting not to be impressed.
However, she said she was taken by Levick's energy and plans to develop the basketball facilities, including a renovation of the arena, new offices and a practice facility.
Levick gave the proviso that funds have to be available for the plans to go through.
Baldwin-Tener said she can develop a consistent top-25 program by focusing recruiting within the state and playing an up-tempo style. Lea Henry, who coached the Panthers for 16 seasons before resigning in March, led the team to three NCAA berths and four 20-win seasons.
"A lot of teams come in this state and take players away," said Baldwin-Tener. "I think there's room for another really good basketball team in this state, and that's what we're going to try to do."
Charles Huddleston, coach of the Georgia Metros AAU team that has produced a number of McDonald's All-Americans, is a supporter.
"I think Sharon's a very good coach and an excellent recruiter," he said. "I believe they can be very competitive if they want to be very competitive."
About the Author
Ken Sugiura is a sports columnist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Formerly the Georgia Tech beat reporter, Sugiura started at the AJC in 1998 and has covered a variety of beats, mostly within sports.
