Taylor “Tay” Baker, who left his mark at both Cincinnati and Xavier, has died at 99, Cincinnati Athletics announced Tuesday.
Baker’s story with the Bearcats stretched across multiple eras. He was a player on Cincinnati teams that captured three Mid-American Conference titles from 1948 through 1950, and later earned a place in the James P. Kelly Cincinnati Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996.
He returned to the program in 1959 as an assistant under Ed Jucker, joining a staff that guided Cincinnati to four Final Fours and back-to-back NCAA championships in 1961 and 1962.
When Baker took over as Cincinnati’s head coach in 1965, he kept the success going. His first team won the Missouri Valley Conference title and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Over seven seasons leading the Bearcats, he put together a 125-60 record.
“Tay Baker represented the very best of Cincinnati Athletics and leaves behind an incredible legacy as both a Bearcats player and coach,” athletic director John Cunningham said. “He was part of one of the greatest eras in our history, first as a student-athlete and later helping lead Cincinnati to national championships and tremendous success as a coach.”
Baker also coached at Xavier, where he helped the Musketeers earn their first winning season in 12 years in his third year as head coach. His college head-coaching record ended at 195-149 between Cincinnati and Xavier.
Baker and the 1965-66 Bearcats were inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.
Cincinnati Athletics said Baker died surrounded by family. Memorial information will be announced later.
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Beyond the sidelines, Baker was a tenured professor at the University of Cincinnati, a reminder that his influence in the Bearcats orbit extended well past the gym. He was the oldest living college basketball coach in America, and his passing closes the book on one of the foundational figures in the programs history, a man whose career linked Cincinnati basketball, academic life and decades of institutional memory. [Read more 🡒]
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