GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Sharon Baldwin, who served as head women's basketball coach at Mercer University last season, has been named East Carolina University's head women's basketball coach. The announcement came at a news conference here Monday by ECU athletics director Mike Hamrick.

Baldwin, a native of Smyrna, Ga., will be the ninth Pirate women's basketball coach in the history of the program. She takes over the reigns of a program that was guided by interim head coach Gene Hill since Dee Stokes resigned this past January. Stokes had been ECU's head coach since 1998.

The 34-year-old Baldwin brings a reputation for building winning programs in a short time. At Mercer, located in Macon, Ga., Baldwin took over a program that went 6-23 during the season prior to her arrival. Her Bears went 16-13 in 2001-02, representing one of the biggest turnarounds in NCAA Division I last season. Her efforts, which included a run to the semifinals of the league tournament, earned her Atlantic Sun Conference Coach-of-the-Year honors. Her team was also successful in the classroom as four Bears earned Academic All-Conference designation.

Prior to her arrival at Mercer, Baldwin served three years as head women's basketball coach at Life University in Marietta, Ga., where she started the NAIA program from scratch and compiled a 53-14 record in two seasons of competition. Her final squad there, in 2000-01, finished with a 31-3 record and No. 1 national ranking in two final polls and advanced to the quarterfinals of the national tournament. She was named WBCA NAIA Coach of the Year and, for the second straight season, won Naismith Georgia NAIA Coach-of-the-Year honors.

Baldwin got her start in the coaching field at the University of Georgia, her alma mater. She served seven seasons under Lady Bulldog coach Andy Landers. Serving as Landers' top assistant, she gained a reputation nationally as a strong recruiter and was responsible for landing All-Americans Rachel Powell, Kedra Holland-Corn, and Coco and Kelly Miller. Georgia's recruiting class was ranked No. 1 in the country in 1993 by Blue Star Report and was recognized as the No. 2 class by that same publication in 1997.

During her tenure, Georgia won two Southeastern Conference Championships and advanced to the NCAA Final Four on two occasions, including the 1996 National Championship game against the University of Tennessee. She earned the Naismith National Assistant Coach-of-the-Year award in 1996.

She enjoyed a successful playing career at both the high school and collegiate levels. At Smyrna's Old Wills High School, she averaged 21 points as a senior in 1985 and was named the Georgia Class AAAA State Player of the Year. She signed out of high school with Kennesaw State University where she played for two seasons before transferring to Georgia. At Kennesaw State, she was an all-district and all-conference selection, averaging 18 points as a freshman and 20 points as a sophomore. She is ranked 12th all-time in scoring at KSU with 831 points and her 12 steals in 1985 agaisnt Tennessee Temple is still a school record.

As a junior at Georgia, Baldwin averaged six points and three rebounds a game. She improved those averages to 10 points and four rebounds as a senior. Serving as team captain, she established career highs of 24 points and 10 rebounds in a game against Ohio State.

Baldwin earned a bachelor's degree in education from Georgia in 1991 and completed her Masters of Education there in 1997.

---

PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

Mike Hamrick, ECU Director of Athletics:
"We conducted a national search and looked for certain criteria we felt we needed, especially someone that has been successful in recruiting. I think that's the life-blood of any program. We were looking for someone who's been at a great program and has recruited at the highest level and we think we got that. We also wanted to try and get a proven head coach, a winner -- someone who's won, understands winning, and knows what winning's about. I think we got that, if you look at the record our new coach has, and has been involved with. And we wanted a quality individual. We wanted an individual that would fit into the Pirate family, an individual that would fit in with the team and develop the chemistry. We needed someone who has proven they can do that. I think we found that."

Sharon Baldwin, ECU's new head women's basketball coach:
"I'm very excited about this opportunity to coach women's basketball here at East Carolina. I appreciate Mike Hamrick for giving me the opportunity to do so. Conference USA is a great women's basketball conference and I looked forward to us being competitive hopefully sooner than later. I'm looking forward to getting to know everybody here. Everybody in this community is outstanding; everyone seems to be really supportive of athletics. Everything that I've heard, and I've checked it out pretty good, about East Carolina has been very positive. I'm looking forward to getting started and building a program here that's very competitive."