East Carolina to hire John David Baker as new offensive coordinator

East Carolina has found a new offensive coordinator. The Pirates have hired Ole Miss co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach John David Baker to lead their offense in 2024. Hoist The Colours’ Stephen Igoe confirmed that Baker has accepted the position on Friday and that the contract is being finalized.

Prior to the conclusion to the 2023 season, ECU head coach Mike Houston announced that the team would be parting ways with then offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick, who had been in Greenville since 2019 in his position. It was the second stint with the Pirates for Kirkpatrick, who spent 2005-2015 coaching the team’s wide receivers.

Baker has experience all over the offensive side of the ball, beginning his career at Abilene Christian from 2014-2015 as a GA working with quarterbacks. He then went to North Texas from 2016-2018 as an offensive quality control coach. In 2019, he took on the same role at USC before taking over the tight end room in 2020. Baker joined Ole Miss in 2021 as the team’s Passing Game Coordinator and tight ends coach, before becoming the Rebels’ Co-Offensive Coordinator in 2022.

The Ole Miss offense has been explosive in the last two years, averaging 34.8 points and 455.6 yards per game in 2023.

What John David Baker faces as East Carolina’s offensive coordinator

Moving on from Kirkpatrick is a move that has been widely expected for much of the season. The Pirates had immense struggles on offense in 2023, after losing quarterback Holton Ahlers, running back Keaton Mitchell, wide receivers C.J. Johnson and Isaiah Winstead, tight end Ryan Jones, and multiple offensive linemen after the 2022 campaign.

Mike Houston was hired as ECU’s head coach in 2019, looking to completely rebuild a program that was coming off of a four-year bowl drought. After a 4-8 record in 2019 and a 3-6 finish in 2020, Houston led the Pirates to their first bowl game since 2014 with a 7-5 record in 2021. The bowl game was eventually canceled due to COVID-19, but the Pirates didn’t wait long for their bowl return, going 8-5 and defeating Coastal Carolina in the Birmingham Bowl in 2022.

The success was not enjoyed for long, though. ECU was simply unable to replace the immense talent lost on offense after the 2022 season. Scoring 17.5 points per game and averaging 277.3 yards of offense per contest, the Pirates finished the 2023 campaign just 2-10.

Those struggles came largely due to those offensive struggles, as ECU fielded a strong defense for much of the season under defensive coordinator Blake Harrell.

The biggest question facing the ECU offense as the calendar turns towards 2024 is at quarterback. Mason Garcia was supposed to be the guy to follow in Ahlers’ shoes, but he wasn’t able to hold onto the starting job and has now declared his intention to enter the NCAA transfer portal. Alex Flinn spent most of the season at quarterback, but he, too, struggled and has an uncertain future.

ECU’s first four games in 2024 will come vs. Norfolk State, at Old Dominion, vs. Appalachian State, and at Liberty.