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Two-time MAAC Coach of the Year Kevin Baggett returns for his 11th season as the Rider University head basketball coach in 2022-23. The 2022-23 season is the 17th for Baggett as a member of the Rider staff, serving two as an assistant coach and four as an associate head coach. In the last 16 years, Rider has compiled 272 wins, the third-most in the MAAC behind only Iona (295) and Siena (273). Baggett has coached on the Division I level for 26 years and has been on the Rider staff since the 2006-07 season.

‘Baggs' is a two-time MAAC Coach of the Year (2015 and 2018) and has been a finalist for three different National Coach of the Year Awards - the Ben Jobe Award, the Joe B. Hall Award and the Hugh Durham Award.

As Head Coach at Rider, Baggett has led his players to 22 All-MAAC honors and two MAAC Sixth Player of the Year awards. The total increases to 32 including six seasons as an assistant coach, with mentorship of 2008 NBA Lottery Pick Jason Thompson, the 2008 MAAC Player of the Year and two-time MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, to his credit. In addition, he’s coached six MAAC All-Rookie Team honorees.

In his first season at Rider, Baggett took a team with just two returning starters and six total letterwinners that was picked to finish seventh in the 10-team Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 2013 and finished in second place. With an emphasis on defense, Baggett's Broncs led the MAAC in three-point field goal percentage defense in 2012-13 and was second in overall field goal percentage defense, third in blocks and fourth in points allowed.

He guided the 2012-13 Broncs to a 19-win season, the most by a Rider rookie head coach since Bob Greenwood led Rider to a 20-win season in 1962-63. The only other Rider basketball coach to compile 19 wins in his rookie campaign was the legendary Clair Bee. Included in the 19 wins was Rider's first-ever Division I national postseason tournament victory, a road win at Hartford in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). The last time Rider had won a game in a national postseason tournament came in 1957, when the Roughriders won a pair of games in the NCAA College Division Championships (now NCAA Division II).

In 2013-14, Coach Baggett took a young team and produced two All-MAAC performers along with a MAAC All-Rookie team selection. His 2013-14 squad was ranked eighth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage and was 51st in Division I in three-point field goals made.

In 2014-15, Baggett took a squad that was picked seventh in the MAAC and guided the team to a 21-win season and a second place finish in the conference, earning MAAC Coach of the Year honors as Rider was selected to play in the College Basketball Invitational tournament. Baggett was a finalist for the Ben Jobe National Coaching Award for the second time in three years and he was named the UPS All-District 1 Coach of the Year.

The Broncs had another very successful campaign in 2016-17, winning 18 games and advancing to the MAAC Championship Quarterfinals. Rider was offered the chance to play in multiple national postseason tournaments, but declined. Seniors Jimmie Taylor and Kahlil Thomas were each named to the All-MAAC Third Team. Rider finished first in the league in rebounds per game (40.3), with three Broncs - Thomas, Norville Carey and Taylor - finishing in the top 20 individually.

2017-18 was a banner year for Baggett and the Broncs. Picked to finish seventh in the MAAC after losing four starters to graduation, the Broncs won 22 games, a share of the MAAC Regular Season Championship and advanced to the NIT for the second time in program history. Baggett was named MAAC Coach of the Year for the second time in six years, took NABC All-District 1 Coach and was also a finalist for the Hugh

Durham and Ben Jobe Awards. Baggett guided four players to All-MAAC honors, including First Teamer Dimencio Vaughn, Second Teamer Stevie Jordan and Third Team honorees Jordan Allen and Frederick Scott. Scott was named MAAC 6 th Player of the Year, while Allen earned All-Rookie Team honors. Vaughn was also selected to the NABC All-District Second Team and earned Second Team All-Met. As a team, Rider led the MAAC in field-goal percentage (.465), offensive rebounds per game (13.2), rebound margin (+2.6), steals per game (7.5), rebounds per game (39.2), turnover margin (+2.2) and turnovers forced per game (15.4). Jordan led the league in assists (5.9) for the second-straight year and was 26 th in the nation. Allen’s 2.88 three-point field goals made per game ranked 50 th in the country, while Vaughn’s 1.83 steals per game were 55 th . Baggett earned his 100th career win on Jan. 26, 2018, against Saint Peter's. Stevie Jordan and Frederick Scott repeated as All-MAAC Second and Third Team selections, respectively, in 2018-19, as the Broncs finished tied for second in the MAAC Regular Season Standings. Jordan recorded his 1,000th career point, becoming the 37th player in Rider history to reach the plateau. In 2019-20, Tyere Marshall joined the ranks of All-MAAC selections, earning Third Team recognition. Dimencio Vaughn returned to All-MAAC First Team form, while Scott earned his third-straight Third Team honor. Vaughn, Scott and Marshall became the 38th, 39th, and 40th Broncs to score their 1,000th points in the cranberry and white. The Broncs compiled an 18-12 overall record and a 12-8 mark in league play. Baggett's Broncs earned the No. 3 seed in the MAAC Championships and were riding a three-game winning streak when the tournament was halted due to COVID-19.

Rider once again won a MAAC Tournament game in 2020-21 under Baggett, taking an opening-round contest against sixth-seeded Canisius. Dwight Murray, Jr. earned All-MAAC Second Team and NABC All-District 1 Second Team honors.

While 2021-22 had its up’s and down’s, the year ended on a high note, as Baggett led the Broncs to a pair of MAAC Tournament wins, including an upset of top-seeded Iona in the quarterfinals. Dimencio Vaughn earned All-MAAC Second Team honors and Dwight Murray, Jr. was named to the MAAC All- Championship Team after hitting the game-winning shot against Iona with six seconds remaining in regulation. Baggett was named the Rider men's basketball head coach at a standing room only press conference on May 24, 2012.

“This was a popular decision,” Rider Director of Athletics Don Harnum said at that time. “It was also a convenient decision, but let me make it very clear, this was not a hire of convenience. This was a hire because I firmly believe and am very confident that Kevin is the right person to lead this program in the future.”

Baggett hails from Burlington, NJ and was a 2006 inductee into the South Jersey Hall of Fame. He was a member of the Saint Joseph's 1985-86 basketball team that compiled a 26-6 record and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He received his bachelor's degree in marketing from Saint Joseph's in June, 1989.

Baggett came to Rider from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where he served as assistant coach from 2004-06. At UMBC Baggett recruited an America East All-Rookie Team member who went on to earn First Team All-Conference honors three times, as well as a pair of transfers from the Colonial Athletic Association who went on to earn All-America East honors.

Baggett has also served as an assistant coach at James Madison, Howard, Western Kentucky and Coastal Carolina