Meredith Baugher

    Meredith Baugher is in her second season as an assistant women's basketball coach at Youngstown State and fifth season as a Division I assistant.
    Baugher (pronounced BAWK-er) is in charge of developing Youngstown State’s posts and overseeing players’ academics.
    Last season, Baugher helped Nikita LaFleur turn in the best year of her career by far. LaFleur, who scored 194 points and had 253 rebounds through her first three seasons, broke out to score 203 points and grab 187 boards during her senior year. She led YSU in both categories and shot an impressive 55 percent from the floor.
    With Baugher monitoring academic progress, the Penguins posted a cumulative grade-point average of 3.16 as a team. Eight out of 13 players had at least a 3.0 GPA, and seniors Kelsey Gurganus and Velissa Vaughn posted perfect 4.0 GPAs in the spring.
    Baugher was very familiar with the Horizon League and northeast Ohio when she came to Youngstown State.
    A native of Berea, Ohio, Baugher spent seven seasons at Valparaiso as both a player and a coach before arriving in Youngstown.
    While at Valparaiso, Baugher helped lead the Crusaders through a long stretch of success during her seven seasons. While she was a player from 2001-05, the Crusaders made two NCAA Tournament appearances, qualified for the quarterfinals of the Women's National Invitational Tournament, won two Mid-Continent Conference tournament titles and captured one regular-season crown.
    Prior to the 2007-08 season when Valpo joined the Horizon League, Baugher was named the team's recruiting coordinator in addition to her duties of coaching the post players and assisting in scouting.
    In her second season on the bench, the Crusaders posted a 20-11 record in their final year in the Mid-Con. Baugher helped with film exchange, produced publications for coaches and alumni and assisted in recruiting during her first year.
    A three-time Mid-Con All-Academic Team honoree, Baugher also helped Valparaiso to the 24th-best team grade-point average out of all Division I teams in the country in 2007-08. The Crusaders have been ranked in the top-25 in each of the last 10 seasons - seven of them with Baugher.
    Baugher earned bachelor's degrees in public relations and French from Valparaiso in 2005 and a master's in sports administration from the university in 2008.