Utah State head women’s basketball coach Kayla Ard announced Wednesday the addition of Falon Baker as the Director of Basketball Operations.
“We are thrilled to have Falon joining our staff,” Ard said. “She is a very detailed, hard worker who will do a great job in our ops role. More importantly, she is a good person and she will be a good role model for our student-athletes. She just fits what we are about. I’m so glad she is an Aggie.”
Baker joins the Aggies after spending the 2020-21 season as an assistant coach at Columbia, where she worked primarily with the guards, while also assisting in player development, scouting, team strategy, recruiting operations and analytics.
“I’m very excited to be joining the staff at Utah State, I feel like this job is a really good fit not just for myself but for everyone else as well,” Baker said. “I’m excited to be working for Coach Ard, she’s a coach who cares about the people around her. When I was visiting Utah State it just had a really good, family feel to me. I think this a great fit, and I’m looking forward to being a part of this staff.”
Prior to her time at Columbia, Baker spent six years at Austin Peay State, two years as a graduate assistant (2018-20) and four as a player (2014-18). As a graduate assistant, Baker assisted with game analysis, practice planning, film analysis, scouting, academics, on-campus recruiting, fundraising and camps.
As a player, Baker appeared in 88 games while making 73 starts during her career for the Governors. After redshirting her freshman season due to injury, Baker scored 739 points in just three seasons, to go along with 186 assists. She finished her career ranking ninth in school history in both 3-pointers made (135) and 3-point percentage (.346).
Baker, a native of Portland, Tenn., graduated from Austin Peay in May of 2018 with a double major in psychology, as well as health & human performance with a concentration in exercise science. She went on to earn her master’s degree in performance enhancement and coaching from Austin Peay, graduating with a 4.0 GPA in May of 2020.
