Ole Miss finalizing deal with East Carolina OC John David Baker to return to Rebels

East Carolina offensive coordinator John David Baker is set to return to Ole Miss as the new offensive coordinator per On3’s Pete Nakos. It’s on the heels of Ty Howle taking the Virginia Tech OC job.

“With Ty Howle taking the Virginia Tech offensive coordinator job, Ole Miss is finalizing a deal with East Carolina offensive coordinator John David Baker, sources tell On3,” Nakos wrote. “Former Ole Miss co-OC.”

Baker joined the ECU staff in 2024 as the offensive coordinator and QBs coach. he spent time at Ole Miss under Lane Kiffin from 2021-23 as the passing game coordinator/tight ends coach and eventually the co-OC.

A former QB, Baker started his coachign career in 2014 at Abilene Christian, where he played from 2009-13. He went on to North Texas and USC before joining the Rebels in 2021.

Ole Miss set for College Football Playoff with new-ish staff

A lot of questions surround what the future will look like for the Ole Miss assistants from the Kiffin regime set to coach the Rebels in the playoffs. New head coach Pete Golding cleared the air about the process they’ve begun, as well as what happened with offensive coordinator Charlie Weis. Weis boarded the plane with Kiffin to Baton Rouge, but will call plays for the Rebels in the playoffs.

“What happened on Sunday, some of those guys wanted to give themselves the opportunity after the season to be able to (say), ‘Hey, am I going to coach at LSU, or am I going to coach at Ole Miss, based on what’s best for me and my family at that time?’” Golding asked.

“There was never any indecision with Charlie. When he left on Sunday, that, ‘Hey, I’m 1,000% coaching in the game for the players, and I just want to give myself the opportunity after this season concludes, whether I want to coach at LSU, obviously, with Coach Kiffin, or come back to Ole Miss and continue to be the offensive coordinator.’”