Kristin Baker Named Cortland Women's Volleyball Head Coach
Cortland Sports Information Department
Kristin Baker has been selected as the new women's volleyball head coach at SUNY Cortland in an announcement from director of athletics Mike Urtz. Baker has previously served as women's volleyball head coach at Hamilton College since 2017.
"I am truly honored to be named the next head volleyball coach at SUNY Cortland," said Baker. "I am grateful to President Erik Bitterbaum, Director of Athletics Mike Urtz and the search committee for allowing me this opportunity. This institution is overflowing with excellence and pride both academically and athletically and I absolutely cannot wait to be a part of it. Erin Glickert has done a wonderful job with this program over the last seven years, and I look forward to continuing to nurture and build both the program and all of the student athletes who are a part of it."
Baker took over a Hamilton program that had made only one league postseason appearance in the highly competitive New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) over the previous 16 years, and she led the Continentals to four conference tournaments in the next eight seasons. Hamilton finished 7-3 in the NESCAC as the conference fourth seed in her first season in 2017, and in 2023 the Continentals hosted their first-ever conference playoff game.
In 2022, her Hamilton squad earned an NCAA regional ranking for the first time in program history. Baker recruited and coached two of Hamilton's four All-Americans, and the program had 25 percent or higher of its roster qualify for the NESCAC Fall All-Academic Team every season since 2018, including more than half the roster in 2021, 2025 and 2026. Baker registered an overall record of 69-96 at Hamilton, giving her the program's second-highest coaching winning percentage overall and best in 30 years.
Prior to Hamilton, Baker was an assistant volleyball coach at Division I Colgate University from 2009-16. She helped lead the Raiders to a Patriot League record of 86-34 and an overall mark of 129-104. The team enjoyed seven winning seasons, made seven league championship appearances and played in four championship final matches in her eight years at Colgate. In her final season with the program the Raiders went 18-11 overall and 13-3 in the league and advanced to the championship final.
In 2012 the Raiders captured league regular season and tournament titles and earned the Patriot League's automatic bid to the NCAA championship. In 2013 Baker helped guide Colgate to an overall record of 22-9 and a league record of 13-3, and the Raiders advanced to the league final for the second year in a row.
Baker was an assistant at the University of Dayton in 2008 and at SUNY New Paltz in 2007. Dayton posted a 21-13 overall record, went 11-2 in the Atlantic 10 Conference, played in the conference championship final and received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I championship. New Paltz was 27-12 overall and 8-2 in the SUNYAC and reached the semifinals of the conference championship. In addition, Baker was part of the USA Volleyball HP Program in July 2010 when she was head coach of the Iroquois-Empire Volleyball Association Region High Performance Team.
A Corning, N.Y., native, Baker (formerly Kristin Fiorillo) played at the University at Albany from 2003 to 2006 and was a team captain and starting libero her senior year. She helped lead Albany to 98 wins overall and a 43-9 record in America East Conference regular-season play. The team collected America East conference tournament titles and played in the NCAA Division I championship in 2004 and 2006. Albany also earned three America East regular-season championships from 2004-06. In 2004 she was part of a program that went 27-7 and played in the NCAA tournament in just its sixth year in Division I.
Baker played at Albany under legendary head coach Kelly Sheffield, and she coached with him at Dayton. Sheffield has been the head coach at the University of Wisconsin since 2013 and has led the Badgers to an NCAA Division I title (2021), six NCAA Final Fours and five Big Ten titles through the 2025 season. He's coached two Olympians and two AVCA National Players of the Year, and his overall coaching record is 619-185 through 25 seasons at Albany, Dayton and Wisconsin.
Baker graduated from Albany in 2007, earning a bachelor's degree in psychology with a minor in sociology, and she earned a master's degree in coaching and athletic administration from Concordia University Irvine (Calif.) in 2020. She resides in Hamilton, N.Y., with her husband Ryan, their sons Brody and Landon, and daughter Elliot. Ryan is Colgate's women's volleyball head coach.
"The next chapter of Cortland Volleyball is here," said Urtz. "We are incredibly excited to announce Kristin as our new head coach. Kristin's volleyball background truly speaks for itself. Her extensive experience with elite programs in the Northeast gives her the perfect skill set to keep our program on a highly competitive path. We're ready to hit the ground running this fall - join us in welcoming Coach Baker to the Red Dragon family!"
Baker takes over for Erin Glickert, who in six on-court seasons from 2019-25 led Cortland to a combined 149-39 record and five SUNYAC titles (2021-25). Glickert stepped down from the head coaching position in April to spend more time with her family.
