Blake Baker joined the Mizzou coaching staff as safeties coach in January 2022. He was promoted to defensive coordinator in late February. He spent the 2021 season as linebackers coach at LSU.
He comes to Mizzou with six years of experience as a defensive coordinator – two at Miami (2019, 2020) and four at Louisiana Tech (2015-18). In addition to his coordinator duties with Miami and Louisiana Tech, Baker also coached the linebackers at both schools.
He joined the Hurricanes in January of 2019 and in his first year, he oversaw a Miami defense that ranked No. 13 nationally in total defense and 12th in the nation in yards allowed per play. The 2019 Hurricane defense also ranked among the top 20 in the nation in rush defense (No. 10), redzone defense (No. 16) and pass defense (No. 18).
Two linebackers – Michael Pinckney and Shaq Quarterman – from Baker’s 2019 defense earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference recognition. Quarterman was selected in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft. His 2020 defense featured first-team All-American defensive end Jaelan Phillips, who went on to be selected in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft with the 18th overall pick.
Prior to arriving in Coral Gables, Baker spent four seasons (2015-18) as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Louisiana Tech where the Bulldogs had one of the nation's top defenses when it came to impact plays. In 2018, Louisiana Tech ranked No. 4 in the nation in sacks per game, No. 12 in tackles for loss and No. 33 in turnovers gained.
Baker’s star defender at Louisiana Tech was All-American Jaylon Ferguson, who led the nation in sacks (17.5) and ranked No. 2 nationally in tackles for loss with 26.5 in 2018. Ferguson was a third-round NFL Draft pick in 2019.
As a unit, Louisiana Tech led Conference USA in rush defense in 2015 and finished second in the league in total defense that year. The Bulldogs were third in C-USA in rush defense in 2016. Prior to being elevated to defensive coordinator at Louisiana Tech, Baker coached the safeties for the Bulldogs in 2014.
In his five years at Louisiana Tech, the Bulldogs won the Conference USA Western Division title twice (2014, 2016) and collected five bowl victories: Arkansas State (2015 New Orleans Bowl), Navy (2016 Armed Forces Bowl), SMU (2017 Frisco Bowl) and Hawaii (2018 Hawaii Bowl). The Bulldogs won 42 games with Baker on staff, including nine victories in three consecutive years from 2014-16.
He spent the 2013 season as the safeties coach at Arkansas State where he helped the Red Wolves to the Sun Belt Conference co-Championship and a win over Ball State in the GoDaddy Bowl. That year, Arkansas State ranked No. 3 in the Sun Belt in both scoring defense (26.2 points per game) and pass defense (232.9 yards per game).
Baker got his start in collegiate coaching at Texas, where he was a graduate assistant for the Longhorns from 2010-12. Baker worked with the linebackers and defensive backs, two position groups that featured eight All-Big 12 selections over that span.
He spent the 2009 season as a wide receivers coach at Clear Springs High School in Houston, before taking over duties as linebackers coach the following spring.
The Houston native was a four-year letterman and three-year starter at linebacker for Tulane from 2000-04. In 42 career games, he racked up 145 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and six sacks. He helped lead the Green Wave to a win in the 2002 Hawaii Bowl. He earned his bachelor's degree from Tulane in 2008.
Baker is married to the former Roslyn Jones, a former All-SEC soccer player at LSU. They have a daughter, Anderson, and two sons, Byron and Brady.
