Who is Kenny Baker, Texas' reported new defensive line coach?
Multiple reports surfaced Thursday saying the Texas Longhorns would hire Miami Dolphins assistant line coach Kenny Baker to replace Bo Davis as the UT defensive line coach. Seemingly out of the blue but confirming the expectation that Steve Sarkisian would fill the vacancy on his staff with someone from the NFL, Baker arrives at Texas with FCS playing experience, FCS coaching on his resume, and one year working in Miami head coach Mike McDaniel‘s building.
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His most recent assignment was as an assistant defensive line coach for the Dolphins, who had celebrated defensive coordinator Vic Fangio calling the defense. Baker worked under defensive line coach Austin Clark, coaching up a number of quality defensive linemen like Christian Wilkins, Raekwon Davis, Zach Sieler, and Da’Shawn Hand.
Though Fangio was the brains behind the operation, the Dolphins’ defensive line provided plenty of brawn.
Baker was plucked from his only prior FBS coaching stop by the Dolphins from Western Kentucky. Baker not only coached DeAngelo Malone to a season where he earned 2021 Conference USA defensive player of the year honors (on his way to being picked in the third round of the 2022 draft) he helped with a 2021 Hilltoppers defense that guided WKU to a 7-1 CUSA record, a loss to UTSA in the CUSA title game, and a win in the Boca Raton Bowl. WKU was 2-1 in bowls when Baker was in Bowling Green, Ky.
When looking at Western Kentucky’s 2021 and 2022 classes, the Hilltoppers signed one defensive lineman from Tennessee in 2021 then added a Kilgore (Texas) J.C. defensive end in 2022 along with Keaton Law from Saraland (Ala.). WKU has made most of its hay in the transfer portal (or, possibly, from players who do not have recruiting service profiles), picking up players from around the country. Because of Tyson Helton‘s overall strategy that emphasized the transfer portal, assessing Baker’s recruiting is a difficult task.
However, looking at his previous stops can indicate where he might focus his attention when not working in Texas and Louisiana.
After coaching in the high school ranks in Georgia from 2010 to 2012, he joined the Berry College staff for the 2013 season. Berry College is in Mount Berry, Ga., almost in the middle of a rectangle that has Atlanta, Ga., Chattanooga, Tenn., Huntsville, Ala., and Birmingham, Ala. as corners.
He then went to Mercer, a FCS school in Macon, Ga., which is smack-dab in the middle of the state. After Mercer was Tennessee-Chattanooga, then his three-year stint at WKU. Bowling Green, Ky., home of the Hilltoppers, is between Lexington, Ky. and Nashville, Tenn.
That’s all to show that while Baker may not have recruiting chops like some other star coaches, he has experience in a territory the Longhorns are keen on tapping into as they move into the Southeastern Conference.
So what’s the connection? Surely it isn’t former Sarkisian pupils Tua Tagovailoa or Jaylen Waddle, nor former Longhorns Connor Williams, Brandon Jones, or DeShon Elliott in Miami? After all, none of those players are defensive linemen.
One theory is that Sarkisian and McDaniel as offensive coaches share a network and a common interest. Both ran some of the other’s signature plays during the 2023 season. Another is that Tashard Choice, during his time at Georgia Tech and recruiting the southeast, crossed paths with Baker on multiple occasions while in the Peach state. One more is that Helton, through his brother and former Sarkisian assistant Clay Helton, tipped off the Texas head coach.
One final one is that Sarkisian and Pete Kwiatkowski looked for coaches who had experience coaching fronts in the 2-4-5 defense Texas utilizes. Fangio is seen as an innovator of that system, and it’s also extremely similar to the defense Maurice Crum ran while Baker was at WKU.
Either way, Baker is reportedly set to join Sarkisian’s staff and fill a key role as defensive line coach. He’ll have to recruit against his predecessor in some of the nation’s most contested recruitments, but he’ll have assists from Sarkisian, Kwiatkowski, Choice, Johnny Nansen, and Jeff Banks in the process.
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The Texas defensive line coach search was a long and winding one, but the knowns about Baker help to reveal Sarkisian’s reasoning for the hire.
