By Paul Gotham
BUFFALO, NY — Jim Baron has roamed the sidelines for nearly three decades. He has won more than 400 collegiate games, taken two schools to the NCAA Tournament and has his place in two separate halls of fame. Yet when it comes to talking about the city of Buffalo, Baron easily switches roles from head coach to cheerleader.
“Buffalo is a great town for sports,” Baron said recently. “I go to the Sabres games. I go to the Bills games. You got great college basketball…Buffalo is a great city for sports across the board.”
The second-year Canisius head men’s basketball coach should know a great city when he sees one. He grew up in the New York City area and his career on the sidelines has taken him throughout the country and beyond.
Now, one year after guiding the Golden Griffins to their first 20-win season in a dozen years, the Brooklyn, New York native has his team at 7-4 and building momentum, but Baron knows basketball is just part of a bigger picture. He wants to use his team’s success on the court to promote Canisius and the city of Buffalo.
That’s why on game days Baron can be seen “hitting the bricks” around the Main Street campus handing out tickets and stirring up enthusiasm. Baron’s team also can be seen around the city volunteering at local schools and youth centers promoting the importance of “Book and Basketball.”
“I love to see kids involved. They need to see that academics are good. That going to college is good.”
Having played four years and later coached at St. Bonaventure, Baron recalls The Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, or The Aud as it is affectionately known, and the excitement surrounding the building in downtown Buffalo. He also knows local college basketball was a big part of that excitement. So when less than 5,000 attended the recent Big 4 doubleheader at the First Niagara Center, Baron confronted the challenge.
“Something’s missing,” he said after Canisius erased a second-half deficit to defeat UB in the nightcap at Buffalo’s current downtown facility. “We just got to connect the dots. That’s all. I don’t think it’s anything else. Come on down and be a part of it.”
New York State’s Labor Department recently released an update on employment data. Buffalo leads the way in the Upstate adding more than 7,400 private sector jobs since November 2012.
Baron, from a family of eight, grew up in the Cooper Park projects of Brooklyn. His father was a construction worker and his mother tended the family. Those experiences taught him how to be part of something larger than himself. A lesson he has shared with student-athletes for more than three decades as a head and assistant coach.
Now he is taking that approach with an entire city.
“You got great restaurants. You got great theater. You got great culture. I hope we can help be a part of the transition of turning it around. We’re trying to do it.”
The Griffs take to the road for their next three games. They play at Notre Dame on Sunday, December 29th. The 5 p.m. game is scheduled to be televised on ESPNU. Canisius returns home on Friday, January 10th to host Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference rival, Rider. A 7 p.m. tipoff is scheduled.
In his 27th year as a head coach, Baron is 416-387 all time. He has taken both St. Francis (Pa.) and St. Bonaventure to the NCAA Tournament. It was the only trip in Red Flash history and his alma mater’s first trip to the tournament in 39 years.
The Atlantic 10 named Baron Coach of the year on four occasions. He has been inducted in the St. Bonaventure Hall of Fame along with the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.
Baron coached the Panama National Team for five seasons. The squad competed in the World Cup, Latin American Championships, Pan-American Games and the 1992 Pre-Olympics.
Paul Gotham is the founder, owner, editor and lead writer at Pickin’ Splinters. Paul is the Communications and Media Director of the New York Collegiate Baseball League. He is a contributor at USA Today and member of the USBWA. You can follow Paul on Twitter @PickinSplinters.
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