Cory  Baldwin
ASSISTANT COACH

Cory Baldwin is entering his 11th season at Clayton State, his seventh as an assistant coach. Cory’s basketball duties include the areas of academics, recruiting, marketing and promotions, opponent scouting and player development (guards), Laker Club activities and film exchange.

Along with head coach Gordon Gibbons and fellow assistant coach Brent Buchanan, Baldwin has been responsible for assembling each of the last three Clayton State recruiting classes that ranked among the nation’s best.

Baldwin is well known in the Southern-Crescent, metro-Atlanta area and in the Georgia Junior Colleges as a relentless recruiter. He recruits nationally in junior colleges and in four-year transfers. Baldwin concentrates his high school recruiting in the Georgia only.  A member of both the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the Atlanta Tip-Off Club, Baldwin is also known for his tremendous work with players on an individual basis, on the floor and in the classroom.  He's been very instrumental in past improvement with guards from one year to next, like Charlie Frazier, Kevin Young, and many more. 

Baldwin served as a motivational leader throughout his playing career. In three seasons, he saw action in 27 games, including one start, and was a 75 percent career free throw shooter. He also served as team academic representative on the athletic-academic board, and was team captain his senior season on Clayton State’s first nationally NCAA Division II ranked team. The 1998-99 team was ranked in the December 7, 1998 poll, as the team opened the season with an 8-0 record.  Baldwin was teammates with former Clayton State University Greats: Derrick Stroud and Robert Conley, who still plays professionally overseas.

In addition to his Clayton State coaching  and playing experience, Baldwin has worked numerous camps throughout the United States, as well as being the Camp Director at Clayton State the past seven summers. He was the site coordinator for the NCAA 2002 Final Four YES Clinic on the Clayton State campus. He was also the coordinator for the Martinique National Team’s 2002 and 2005 USA Tour and coordinator for the 2003-04 Ft. McPherson Army Base Tour Team.

Baldwin heads up many community service projects for the basketball program. He’s had the team give back to the community in many ways, speaking at elementary schools, middle schools, churches, and volunteering time at community centers. He was the organizer of the First, Second, and Third Annual Jonesboro First Baptist Recreational Outreach Center Basketball Camp. He also received a citizenship award for his work in the community from the 2001-02 Morrow High School Final Four men’s basketball team.  Also has players giving time to special education departments throughout the Southern Crescent.

Prior to coming to Clayton State, Baldwin was a two-time all-region and one-time all-state selection at Lake City Christian High School. As a senior captain, he averaged 24 points, nine assists, and five rebounds per game in leading the Suns to a runner-up finish in the state tournament. He also was a starting quarterback at Jonesboro High School for one season, before transferring to Lake City Christian and quarterbacking the team to the state playoffs.  He was also academically successfully, receiving the H.O.P.E scholarship out of high school.

A native of Jonesboro, Baldwin has a bachelor’s degree in health care management from Clayton State. He also holds a masters degree in instructional education from Central Michigan University. He earned that degree from the distant learning program located on the CCSU campus.

Besides coaching, Baldwin is also entering his fourth year as a professor, teaching a course in the humanities department, "Critical Thinking". He uses that experience, along with his years here as a student-athlete, to advise or counsel student-athletes in their course and/or degree choices.  He is the unofficial Student-Athlete Advisor for the athletic department.   He is the Faculty Representative for Fellowship Christian Athletes Association at Clayton State.  

Amongst his busy schedule,
Baldwin
also finds time somehow to work as a fitness instructor for SmartBodies, located on campus.   While working with Smartbodies, he wrote the course proposal for the health Science Department, Introduction to Basketball and got it approved by the University.

Baldwin's sister, Selena, played four years at Georgia Tech and was a three-year starter. She was a member of the first NCAA Tournament team in Georgia Tech women’s basketball history. She was also a member of the Yellow Jacket squad that won the WNIT.  She is currently the head girl’s basketball coach at Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy.

Baldwin resides in Jonesboro with his wife Amanda, who is a graduate of Georgia Southern University, and works as a lawyer assistant at a law firm in Atlanta.