After a national search, Athletic Director Nate Houser announced on Monday morning the hiring of Torie Murillo as the next head women’s basketball coach at Baker University.
“After a very thorough national search and a tremendous pool of final candidates, I am very excited to have Torie join our staff here at Baker,” Athletic Director Nate Houser said. “Throughout this process, we were searching for someone who could reset the environment within our program and we know Torie will do just that. We have a great group of strong young women who are ready to attack the challenges ahead of them. With coach Murillo joining our staff, I believe we have the leadership to create an exceptional experience for our team.”
Coach Murillo has spent the last six years coaching at Avila University, in Kansas City, Mo. In those six seasons, she helped lead the Eagles to a KCAC Tournament Championship in the 2019-20 season and to a KCAC Tournament Runner-Up finish in the 2021-22 season.
Prior to her time as the head coach at Avila, Murillo was a graduate assistant for the Eagles. She also played collegiate basketball at Avila, earning Heart of America All-Conference honors three consecutive seasons and was named the Heart of America Defensive Player of the Year for two of those seasons. Murillo was also named an Third Team NAIA All-American in 2012.
Murillo and her former teammates of the 2011-12 Avila women’s basketball team were inducted into the Avila Hall of Fame in 2019 after becoming the first team in Avila history to reach the second round of the NAIA National Tournament.
She takes over a Baker women’s basketball program that returns 10 players from a season ago, including honorable mention all-conference honoree, Sophia Barrett.
“I am very excited for this opportunity,” head coach Torie Murillo said. “I think I have walked into a program that has a lot of legacy and tradition and I am honored to take that to the next level. I want these seniors to leave a legacy for themselves and have something for them to look back on and be proud of, but also for the alumni to be proud of. I’m so glad to be a part of Baker University. I think that Nate Houser and Susan Decker have done a great job with this athletic department and I am excited to work under their leadership.”
