There was a time, not too long ago even, when this waiting game would make Missouri football fans feel a sense of dread.
Big, bad LSU wants to make a key coaching piece of Mizzou’s program swap his stripes?
Punt. Better yet, take a knee. Because it’s already over.
There was a time, not too long ago even, when the world would assume defensive coordinator Blake Baker would hustle from Boone County back to Baton Rouge faster than a Luther Burden 40-yard dash.
But Baker hasn’t left. At least not yet. A new and improved Mizzou has given him an awful lot to think about before he decides. Up for consideration is not just the cold, hard cash of an unprecedented extension but the belief Mizzou showed in Baker before LSU interest increased.
Eli Drinkwitz’s program is doing a fine job of trying to prove it can not only have nice things but keep them, too.
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We will know soon enough if it works, if Baker is staying put as Mizzou’s defensive coordinator or deciding instead to reunite with LSU after Brian Kelly ejected coordinator Matt House along with most of his defensive staff.
What we know now is that Mizzou did everything in its power to make this a very hard decision for Baker, and that’s a significant step forward for Mizzou.
When I hollered earlier this season about Mizzou being proactive regarding sweetening the contracts of both Baker and first-year offensive coordinator and play caller Kirby Moore, this is what I had in mind. Mizzou was wise to do both. And still the poachers are coming, trying to offer even more.
There is not much original thought in the SEC. When coaches like LSU’s Kelly, who operate with blank checks most of the time, want to update an entire side of their coaching staff, they simply look around the league, see what is working elsewhere and figure they can and will be able to pay enough to poach. Agents joyfully help, making money on constant contract inflation. It is what it is, and if you are a winning SEC program that wants to have some shred of consistency, you have to win some of these battles or get really good at hiring replacements. Or, you know, both.
The reports of LSU pushing hard to hire Baker are true. Assumptions the new contract he signed with Mizzou would automatically stop him from leaving were premature. There is a decision to be made, and it belongs to Baker.
There are many reasons Kelly should hope Baker picks LSU.
While Baker’s defense couldn’t stop Kelly’s star quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels this season — Who could? — Mizzou rebounded after that loss to finish strong.
Mizzou held Georgia to 10 points below its scoring average on the road. It handed Tennessee its lowest point total (7) since Josh Heupel learned the words to “Rocky Top.†It limited Ohio State to a meager field goal in a Cotton Bowl crescendo.
Baker’s defense finished the season as the SEC’s fourth-stingiest scoring defense (20.8 points allowed per game). His Tigers were in the SEC’s upper half at both run (123 rushing yards allowed per game, fifth) and pass (213 passing yards allowed per game, seventh) prevention.
Thanks to Baker’s creative blitzes and willingness to call games aggressively, the Tigers ranked third in the league in sacks (39), third in tackles for loss (88) and first in both fumbles forced (17) and recovered (10). Mizzou’s D was the league’s best at keeping opponents from scoring touchdowns once they entered the red zone, too. It limited opponents to a 53.9% touchdown rate in the red zone; LSU’s defense had an SEC-worst 71.7% opponent red-zone touchdown percentage.
Mizzou has climbed from 113th nationally in scoring defense before Baker took over to 56th last season (his first as MU coordinator), to 25th this season. Baker’s defense will be well-represented in this year’s NFL draft, just welcomed key transfer portal additions including Clemson transfer corner and ºüÀêÊÓƵ native Toriano Pride, and added one of the nation’s top recruits in five-star defensive end Williams Nwaneri.
Like I said, LSU is wise to come calling. Maybe it should have never fired Baker in the first place? More on that in a moment.
There are also some reasons Baker should think long and hard about sticking with Mizzou instead of rushing to reunite with LSU.
Reason 1: The contract terms have not yet been made public, but I can tell you Baker’s new deal at Mizzou, which already was the largest for an assistant coach in Mizzou history even before it was updated prior to the Cotton Bowl, will now make him one of the highest-paid defensive coordinators in the nation if he stays. And it’s set to go up annually. Baker agreed to the deal after he was in the mix for head coach openings (Tulane, Middle Tennessee) elsewhere. Everyone knows Baker will one day be a head coach. There isn’t a contract extension that can stop that from happening. What Mizzou hoped to do was keep Baker in place until that time came and not lose him to the same job elsewhere. Some think LSU can and will outspend any program to get what it wants, and perhaps that is true, but Mizzou stepped up big financially to compete in that realm and did so before Kelly cleaned house at LSU. Mizzou can’t outspend LSU in a flat-out bidding war. It did complicate what could have been a no-brainer and did so before LSU competition caused it.
Reason 2: Can’t Baker eventually get the head coaching chance he wants from his current position at Mizzou? Say his defense helps Mizzou crack the 12-team College Football Playoff next season. He would be one of the more desirable names among proven coordinators looking for their head-coaching debuts. If you have a clear idea of what you want next and you are making close to top dollar in the role you have until you get that chance, why risk adding in another move? In some ways, helping lead Mizzou to the CFP could be more impressive to future head-coach seekers than helping LSU get to where it believes it belongs annually.
Reason 3: Baker has it pretty good under Drinkwitz. He’s the head coach of the defense. The two have a great relationship. People seem to be forgetting that Drinkwitz aggressively promoted Baker from safeties coach to defensive coordinator, helping his trajectory. People seem to be forgetting that one of Kelly’s initial moves upon arriving at LSU from Notre Dame was clearing out some of his inherited staff. One of the coaches not retained at that time? Then-LSU linebackers coach Blake Baker. Yes, the coach who fired Baker is now determined to get him back. Which boss would you trust?
I don’t know which way Baker will go. LSU money is hard to turn down. If he leaves, it will sting Drinkwitz’s program significantly, but considering Drinkwitz has been on a run of smart hires — offensive line coach Brandon Jones, offensive coordinator Kirby Moore, Baker himself — there is now a track record of Drinkwitz knowing where to turn to fill a vacancy.
Better yet, Baker could conclude that he already has one of the best defensive coordinator jobs in the country right where he is, with a coach who hired him instead of fired him, with a program that was fighting hard to keep him and reward him handsomely even before LSU realized what it had lost.