Jim Baker announced as 2025 SAC Hall of Fame inductee

Rock Hill, S.C. —- Former Catawba College head men's basketball coach Jim Baker was announced as one of five inductees in the 2025 class of the South Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame, the league announced in a press release on Wednesday.

The leader of the Catawba Indian men's basketball program for 20 seasons, Baker led Catawba to nine 20-win seasons, six SAC regular season titles, six SAC Tournament championships and nine NCAA Tournament berths.

Baker's 344 coaching victories ranks second all-time among SAC head coaches and his five SAC Coach of the Year awards also ranks second in league history.

Under Baker's leadership, Catawba graduated 94 percent of its student-athletes, while five student-athletes who were coached under Baker later were enshrined into the Catawba Sports Hall of Fame. Baker himself entered the Catawba Hall of Fame in 2021.

Following his time at Catawba, Baker went on to coach at Central Cabarrus High School in Concord, N.C., where he helped build the Vikings to a powerhouse in class 3A high school basketball in the state of North Carolina. Central Cabarrus won the 2023 and 2024 3A state championships, with the Vikings going 95-1 over his final three seasons.

Baker was named the South Piedmont Conference Coach of the Year in each of his seasons at Central Cabarrus, while earning the Charlotte Observer Boys Coach of the Year in 2023 and the North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year for Boys in 2023 and 2024.

"We are honored to induct these five individuals into the SAC Hall of Fame," SAC Commissioner Patrick Britz said. "Three of these individuals have embodied what it means to be a SAC student-athlete in both academic and athletic excellence during their time at their various institutions, as well as success after graduating. The other two were long-time and very successful head coaches in our league and helped mold and guide hundreds of student-athletes during their tenures."

Baker will be enshrined into the conference Hall of Fame at the Conference's Spring Meetings in Charlotte on May 29.