NATCHEZ — Jerry Baldwin sees winning championships as more than just holding up a shiny trophy, he sees it as a life-molding experience.

Baldwin, a Natchez native, has coached football at LSU, Louisiana Tech University and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, but his current stop has him in Ruston, La., as the pastor and basketball coach of New Living Word School.

Though NLW was erected in 1992, it wasn’t until 2009 when the church grew into a school as well.

NLW added a basketball and track program in 2011, with Baldwin leading the basketball team.

In each of its three seasons, NLW made it to the final four, but could never win the big game.

But that was when they were underclassmen. Now a team filled with juniors, they had the experience and the drive to take it all the way.

“The first year they were all freshmen and they were just excited to be there,” Baldwin said. “Last year as sophomores, we expected to be there but didn’t play well enough to win it. This year they were determined to win it all.”

Baldwin and the Lions won the LHSAA Class C state championship against Sicily Island High School 91-72 March 14 and ended the season with a 33-8 record.

Baldwin said they’ll be back to do it again next year.

“Everybody will be back next year,” he said “That’s the beauty of it. The more they play together, the more they know each other. We developed a bond that’s necessary to be a champion.”

Baldwin said he will continue to build on that bond as they prepare for the summer.

“We play summer ball together. Last year we played 44 games during the summer,” he said. “I take them to different camps from LSU to La. Tech and some high school camps so they get to play a lot of basketball together.”

But Baldwin said the skills and fundamentals he teaches his championship team goes far beyond just basketball.

“My goal for them is to be the champions in the life that God wants them to be,” Baldwin said. “I don’t have career goals as a (high school) coach.

“I just take pride in taking young boys and developing them into men and I will use athletics to do that. I think there are some values you get (from athletics) that you don’t get anywhere else. The discipline, the hard work, the study habits and the sacrifice that makes a man a successful father to raise a family and a successful man in the work place.”

With the basketball program doing well, Baldwin hopes to go back to his roots as a football coach in the near future.

“The (LHSAA) passed a rule you can play 8-man football now, so we’re considering that in the future,” he said.

But regardless of sport, Baldwin said his goal is to build champions of Christ before anything.