Photo by: © Tim Cowie | GWUPhotos.com
Gardner-Webb Head Track & Field and Cross Country Coach Brian Baker Retires
May 19, 2023 | Cross Country, Track & Field
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Gardner-Webb Track & Field and Cross Country Head Coach Brian Baker announced his retirement from coaching on Friday after 22 years with the program.
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A national search to find the next leader of the programs will begin immediately.
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Baker joined the Gardner-Webb family in 2001 as an assistant coach in charge of distance runners. He took over as head coach in 2004.
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Baker was named 2006 Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Gardner-Webb Men's Track & Field team to their first conference title that spring in Clermont, Fla. GWU won seven individual outdoor titles at the meet and saw 19 men earn All-Conference honors. Baker coached 87 individual conference champions during his time in charge of the program.
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Baker is a 1994 graduate of the University of Arkansas, where he provided a major impact on Razorbacks' teams dominance on the track. He was a part of nine team national championships, including triple crowns (cross country, indoor and outdoor) in 1992-93 and 1993-94. Baker won two individual national titles in 1994 as a senior, taking first in the Distance Medley Relay and the 5,000-meter run.
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He was an alternate for the 1996 Olympic Team in the 5,000-meter run and finished ninth in the 3,000-meter run at the 1999 World Indoor Track & Field Championships held in Japan. In 1995, he placed 10th in the 5,000-meter run at the World University Games. Baker is also a former member of the U.S. World Cross Country Team (1996 and 1997) and finished third, receiving a bronze medal at the Pan American Games.
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Baker was inducted into the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2004.
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A national search to find the next leader of the programs will begin immediately.
Â
Baker joined the Gardner-Webb family in 2001 as an assistant coach in charge of distance runners. He took over as head coach in 2004.
Â
Baker was named 2006 Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Gardner-Webb Men's Track & Field team to their first conference title that spring in Clermont, Fla. GWU won seven individual outdoor titles at the meet and saw 19 men earn All-Conference honors. Baker coached 87 individual conference champions during his time in charge of the program.
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Baker is a 1994 graduate of the University of Arkansas, where he provided a major impact on Razorbacks' teams dominance on the track. He was a part of nine team national championships, including triple crowns (cross country, indoor and outdoor) in 1992-93 and 1993-94. Baker won two individual national titles in 1994 as a senior, taking first in the Distance Medley Relay and the 5,000-meter run.
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He was an alternate for the 1996 Olympic Team in the 5,000-meter run and finished ninth in the 3,000-meter run at the 1999 World Indoor Track & Field Championships held in Japan. In 1995, he placed 10th in the 5,000-meter run at the World University Games. Baker is also a former member of the U.S. World Cross Country Team (1996 and 1997) and finished third, receiving a bronze medal at the Pan American Games.
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Baker was inducted into the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2004.
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