Eastern Florida State College Women’s Basketball Coach MJ Baker Earns FCA Heart of a Coach National Award

first junior college coach to win the award

ABOVE VIDEO: Head coach MJ Baker talks about the FCA Heart of a Coach National Award and her program.

BREVARD COUNTY • FLORIDA — Eastern Florida State College women’s basketball coach MJ Baker was selected to receive the “2025 Kay Yow Fellowship of Christian Athletes Heart of a Coach Award” and was honored Sunday morning during the annual Fellowship of Christian Athletes Breakfast at the NCAA Division I Final Four in Tampa.

Baker is the first junior college coach to win the award.

“I am still honored and kind of shocked by it all, it is really humbling,” said Baker who was nominated by her assistant coach Lindsay Walters and the assistant volleyball coach Hadley Mendez Mussler who are also part of the FCA with Baker.

The national award recognizes a women’s basketball coach who exemplifies biblical principles and coaching with character, honoring the legacy of the late Kay Yow, a North Carolina State coaching icon. Yow coached N.C. State from 1975 to 2009 and had more than 700 career wins. She coached the U.S. Women’s Basketball team to an Olympic Gold medal in 1988 despite being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987. She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000 and the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2009.

“It is truly incredible to honor Coach Yow’s legacy. It was not just about winning games, though she did a lot of that, it’s about winning hearts for Christ and that is a mission that I strive for every single day,” Baker said at the FCA breakfast. “We all have the dream of winning a championship, I know I do. The trophies, the accolades, and while there is nothing wrong with striving for excellence, we all do, I have come to recognize the greatest trophies are not the ones on the shelf or even the nice ring on your finger. They are actually the living trophies that we build every day by empowering young lives about purpose, character and faith.”

“What an amazing achievement,” said College President Dr. Jim Richey. “We are extremely proud of Coach Baker. This national honor is a testament to her commitment to excellence both on and off the court. Her coaching style has had a positive influence on her student athletes and has made a real difference in their lives. She is the best of the best, and we are proud to see her receive this well-deserved recognition.”

Baker started the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Club at Eastern Florida State College two years ago, and it has grown each year with the group doing community service around Brevard County as well as holding meetings on the Melbourne campus.

“God is my coach, the Bible is my playbook and everything I do is to honor him,” Baker said. “Basketball is a vehicle for that and FCA was a way to bring that onto campus. I thought that we have so many international athletes and athletes away from home who don’t have cars, and statistics show student athletes fall away from faith and God at an alarming rate, So, I talked to Coach Jeff Carr, our Athletic Director, about it and he was supportive. We have really grown to having about a third of the student-athletes going to the Club meetings. The free food helps, but we are really more about feeding their minds, body and spirits.”

The EFSC’s women’s basketball team finished with 22 wins this season making it all of the way to the Semifinals of the FCSAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament. It marked the fifth straight season that Baker’s women’s basketball team has won at least 20 games and were nationally ranked almost every week the past four seasons.

As she finishes her eighth season with the Titans, Baker is closing in on 200 wins at Eastern Florida State College and her 183 wins are already the most in program history.

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