John Baines is entering his 14th season as the head men's basketball coach at Elmhurst University in 2026-27.
In the years following the pandemic from 2020-26,
Baines’ teams have gone 129-55 (.701), made five CCIW Championship game appearances, while winning three crowns, and have the most CCIW Tournament wins of any team during that time (13-4).
Baines has led the Bluejays to a 218-124 record in thirteen seasons as head coach. His players have earned 27 all-conference, seven all-region, and three All-American accolades, and two academic All-American honors to go with an NCAA Elite 90 award winner (Jonathan Zapinski). In 16 seasons as a head coach,
Baines has compiled a 275-162 overall record.
Elmhurst finished the 2025-26 season with a 19-9 overall record, wrapping up its campaign in the CCIW Championship game. In addition to two Bluejays earning all-conference honors, Dominic Trelenberg was named an all-region selection by D3hoops.com and an all-district selection by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).
In 2023-24, Baines guided the Bluejays to a 22-6 overall record and finished 2nd in the CCIW standings. The Bluejays went on to win the CCIW Tournament Championship for the third time in five seasons. The CCIW Tournament win punched a ticket to the NCAA Tournament, the teams fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament in the past decade, where Baines has compiled a 9-4 record in NCAA Tournament play.
In 2022-23, Baines led the Bluejays to an 18-10 overall record and made his third appearance in the CCIW Tournament Championship game in the past four years.
Baines guided the program to its best season in school history in 2021-22. The Bluejays won the CCIW Tournament for the second time in three years and became the first Elmhurst team to reach the Final Four in school history. The Bluejays soundly defeated Wabash College in the national semifinals to reach the NCAA Championship game before finishing as the national runner-up. Elmhurst finished the year with a 27-7 overall record, breaking the single-season record for victories set just two seasons earlier. Baines was also named the D3hoops.com Region 8 Coach of the Year.
In 2019-20, Baines and the Bluejays posted a 25-5 overall record. The Bluejays won their first-ever CCIW Tournament Championship and won a pair of games in the NCAA Tournament. The squad was set to host an NCAA Sweet 16 game before the season abruptly came to an end due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Baines was named the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Division III Co-Coach of the Year for the second time in his career.
In 2016-17, Baines guided the Bluejays to a 22-7 overall record and a trip to the second-round of the NCAA Tournament. The 22 wins matched a school record for most wins in a season. The team also posted back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in school history. The second-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament also marked a first in the history of the program.
Baines needed only two seasons to bring the Bluejays back to the national spotlight. In 2014-15, the team posted a 20-8 overall record (9-5 in the CCIW) and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2009 season. Baines' team was nationally ranked and scored a thrilling triple-overtime win over fifth-ranked St. Norbert College in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The team reached the 20-win plateau for just the fourth time in school history and Baines was named the IBCA "Division III Co-Coach of the Year."
A long-time assistant for the Bluejays, Baines became the 15th men's basketball head coach in Elmhurst history when Mark Scherer announced his retirement from coaching following the 2012-13 season. Baines spent 10 seasons as Scherer's right-hand man in Elmhurst before becoming the head coach at the University of St. Francis in 2010.
In 2012-13, Baines guided the Saints to a 21-12 record and a fourth-place finish in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference. In his three seasons at St. Francis, Baines compiled a 57-38 overall record, while coaching six all-conference performers, a conference Freshman of the Year award winner and a pair of NAIA All-Americans.
In his debut season at St. Francis in 2010-11, Baines guided the Saints to a 21-10 overall record, an improvement of 13 games from the previous season and the team's best record in 21 seasons. His team climbed to as high as 24th in the NAIA Division I coaches poll.
In Baines' tenure as an assistant at Elmhurst, the Bluejays compiled a 160-99 record (.618 winning percentage), recorded five conference runner-up finishes, qualified for the CCIW Tournament four times, won over 20 games in three seasons and advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice. The Bluejays were ranked in the D3hoops.com top-10 for three consecutive years from 2007-09. He also served as the men's tennis coach (2000-04) and head women's golf coach (2003-06) while at Elmhurst.
Baines began his collegiate coaching career at Elmhurst in 2000-01. In his first year with the Bluejays, he helped the squad to a school-best 22-5 record and its first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Championship. The team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and was ranked as high as sixth in the nation.
Baines began his coaching career at Bloomington High School in 1998 before joining Scherer's coaching staff at Elmhurst.
Baines was no stranger to the CCIW before joining the Elmhurst coaching staff. He played college basketball at Illinois Wesleyan University. He was a part of teams that compiled a 103-14 record, played in the NCAA Tournament four times, reached the Final Four twice and won a national championship in 1997.
Baines earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Illinois Wesleyan in 1998. He received a master's degree in sports administration from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2003. He and his wife, Emily, reside in Addison with their daughter, Sloane, and son, Jackson.
