Auburn head women’s basketball coach Terri Williams-Flournoy announced today that Sherill Baker has been promoted to assistant coach. Baker just completed her second season on Auburn’s staff as the director of basketball services.
"Sherill is definitely one of the up-and-coming coaches in women’s basketball," Williams-Flournoy said, "and it is an honor to have her join our staff. She brings great SEC experience having played at Georgia for four years, and she also had the experience of playing in the WNBA and overseas – all great assets to our program."
An All-American at Georgia, Baker had a four-year WNBA career and played professionally overseas before joining the Auburn staff prior to the 2011-12 season as director of basketball services.
"I am excited to continue on Coach Flo’s staff as an assistant coach," Baker said. "I am very grateful to be working alongside such an influential person. I absolutely love our players, staff and community. I believe the future for our program with Coach Flo is very bright."
Baker was selected twelfth overall in the 2006 WNBA Draft. She signed on with the New York Liberty where she played 34 games during the 2006 season and three in 2007, before being traded to the Los Angeles Sparks. She also played one season in 2008 with the Indiana Fever and spent time with the Detroit Shock in 2009 before ending her WNBA career.
She also played professionally overseas, having most recently spent time during the 2011-12 season with Hapoel Tel-Aviv in the Israeli League. Baker averaged a team-high 24.4 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game in 20 games played.
Baker played five previous seasons with various overseas organizations in Israel, Italy, France, Germany and Cyprus during the WNBA off-season where she averaged double figures in scoring each year.
A native of Stone Mountain, Ga., Baker attended Greater Atlanta Christian School in Norcross and played collegiately at the University of Georgia. Baker earned her degree in speech communication from Georgia in 2006. The Gwinnett County native was selected to the Gwinnett County Sports Hall of Fame on May 4, 2013.
During her career, Baker helped the Lady Bulldogs to a 93-39 (.705) record, including four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances. In those four tournament trips, Baker helped Georgia to two Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight appearance.
At Georgia, she started 122 of 131 games played and tallied 1,665 points (12.7 ppg), and she sits at No. 10 on Georgia’s all-time scoring list. She also holds the single-season and career Georgia records for steals with 149 and 426, respectively.
For her work on the court, Baker was named All-American, All-SEC First Team and National Defensive Player of the Year in 2006. She was named an SEC Legend at the 2014 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Baker replaces Caroline McCombs, who was named head coach at Stony Brook in June.
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