Salem University Athletics

A veteran of more than 30 years in the coaching ranks, Michael Bari enters his first season as head women's basketball coach in the 2016-17 season.

Bari takes over the Tiger women’s basketball program after a two-year stint as the head coach at nearby West Virginia Wesleyan in Buckhannon, West Virginia. Bari inherited a two-win team and improved the Bobcats win total in each of his two seasons, including seven wins during the 2015-16 campaign.
 
Prior to West Virginia Wesleyan, Bari had an impressive nine-year run as the head women’s basketball coach at Louisiana State University-Eunice from 2004-13. His teams finished with a 154-113 record and reached the NJCAA District Finals six times, including an appearance in the NJCAA Final Four in 2007.
 
LSU-Eunice also excelled in the classroom under Bari. They were honored four times as NJCCA National Academic All-America teams, with three National Academic All-Americans under his watch.
 
Bari has also coached at Penn State-Behrend, Alderson Broaddus, Gannon and Colorado Northwestern Community College, after starting his coaching career as a men’s basketball graduate assistant at East Stroudsburg in 1984.
 
He earned his bachelor’s degree in health and physical education, with a minor in psychology, from West Virginia Wesleyan and his master’s degree in health and physical education from East Stroudsburg.
 
A native of Erie, Pennsylvania, Bari and his wife Kelle reside in Buckhannon.