Nate Baker was hired on March 20, 2017, and enters his second season as an assistant coach with the Omaha men’s soccer program in 2018-19 after spending five seasons on the men’s soccer coaching staff at the United States Naval Academy.
Before the start of the 2018 season, Top Drawer Soccer named Baker as one of the Men’s Division I ‘Assistant Coaches to Watch’. His work in recruiting and student-athlete academics has been vital to the development of Omaha players off the pitch and his defensive acumen aided in the creation of one of the top defensive teams in the Summit League.
In Baker’s first season at Omaha, the Mavericks finished with a 10-6-3 overall record and claimed the program’s first Summit League Tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth. UNO opened the season with six straight wins and rose to No. 10 in the United Soccer Coaches/NCAA Top 25 poll. Baker worked with 11 All-Summit performers, including First-Team members Xavier Gomez, Emmanuel Hamzat, Elvir Ibisevic, Seth Rinderknecht and Jacob Weiler.
Baker joined the Mavericks after spending five seasons on the staff at Navy. He served as the Midshipmen’s associate head coach during the 2016 season. That season, Navy finished 5-9-4 overall with a 4-1-3 mark at home. Baker played a vital role in the development of Brock Dudley and Sam Bascom into All-Patriot League performers.
Baker served as the interim head coach at Navy during the summer of 2016. He was in charge of overseeing every aspect of the program, as well as serving as the director of the Navy Boys’ Soccer Camp.
In 2014, Baker helped the Midshipmen to an 11-4-5 overall record and a 6-1-2 conference mark, which earned Navy the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament. The Midshipmen finished the season on an 11-game unbeaten streak at 7-0-4. Navy spent three weeks ranked in the NSCAA Top 25 and went 2-0-1 against nationally ranked opponents, which included a 2-1 win over #10 Maryland.
Head coach Dave Brandt promoted Baker to his top assistant in 2013, and Navy responded with its best season in decades. The Mids advanced to the NCAA Second Round and had an overall record of 16-4-2, capturing the Patriot League’s regular-season crown and tournament titles. Navy closed the season ranked No. 25 in the NSCAA national poll.
Baker served as a volunteer assistant during the 2012 season as the Midshipmen finished with a 7-7-3 overall record. That season the Mids began the year 5-2-1 with wins over then No. 20 George Mason, Pittsburgh and eventual Patriot League Tournament champion Lafayette. He helped coach a Navy offense that finished 23rd in the country in scoring offense (1.88 goals per game) and featured five players that scored at least 10 points for the first time in 12 years.
Before coaching at the Naval Academy, Baker spent time with Soccer Means More, LLC, a training company that worked as an adjunct to club training, writing an age-specific curriculum for every level that stressed technique on and off the ball. He has also spent time as a staff coach for the Maryland Olympic Development Program and as a summer camp coach at both the University of Maryland and Navy.
As a player, Baker played professionally for the Harrisburg City Islanders and Real Maryland Monarchs of the United Soccer League (USL). As a starter on both squads, Baker helped his teams defeat DC United (2007) and the New England Revolution (2009) to gain quarterfinal berths in the US Open Cup.
Baker was a four-year starter at American and led the team to the Patriot League Championship in 2004. He served as a two-year captain and helped American also reach the 2005 league final. He graduated with his bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from American University in 2007. Baker currently holds a U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) “A” License.
Baker and his wife, Brittany, have three daughters, Anna, Corinne and Kennedy.
