Josh Baker enters his fourth season on the Chowan Men’s Soccer staff and second as an assistant coach.
During the 2024 season, Baker assisted the Hawks to a 9-5-3 overall record and a 7-2-2 mark in league play.The Hawks made it to another Conference Carolinas Championship, earning the 12th seed in NCAA Super Region II Rankings. The blue and white finished with four All-Conference selections with two players awarded major conference recognitions. Junior Smith was recognized as the Conference Carolinas Offensive Player of the Year, while Robbie Deigan was honored as the Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year. Smith and Harry Baker earned spots on the Conference Carolinas First Team All-Conference, and Bradley Binns and Charlie Birch were both selected to the Third Team All-Conference. Addtionally, Baker was named the Conference Carolinas Elite 23 winner for men's soccer and collected D2CCA Southeast Second Team All-Region Honors. Smith also earned D2CCA Southeast First Team All-Region in addition to D2CCA Men's Soccer All-America Third Team for his performance on and off the field.
In 2023, Baker, helped the Hawks achieve their second Conference Carolinas Tournament Championship and second NCAA Tournament appearance after posting an 8-4-6 overall record with a 7-2-2 mark in league play. Baker helped Harri Lovett, Bradley Binns, Chase Janson, Charley Leech, Tylar Elliott and Sam Deacon earn All-Conference honors along an D2CCA All-Region selection for Lovett.
In 2022 as a graduate assistant, the Hawks posted a 6-6-5 overall record and a 6-2-3 mark in league action. Chowan would make their sixth straight appearance in the Conference Carolinas Championship field. The Hawks would post three players to the All-Conference list including Harri Lovett being named Conference Carolinas Defensive Player of the Year. Lovett and Tren Drexhage would be named D2CCA All-Region as Lovett would earn All-American status, once again, on the field and in the classroom.
Baker played at Chowan as a freshman and sophomore for Coach Whalley during 2016 and 2017. Baker picked up the Conference Carolinas Player of the Week Award, All-Conference honors and was named in the United Soccer Coaches All-Region Team in 2017. After his sophomore year, Baker transferred to High Point University, NC. He graduated with an undergraduate degree in Sports Management. Baker was a Big-South Regular Season Champion in 2018 and also played in the NCAA Division 1 National Tournament. During the 2018 season the High Point team were nationally ranked 12th in the nation.
Prior to returning to Chowan, Josh served as the Scholarships Operations Manager for a soccer placement company in the U.K. Baker worked closely with football clubs academies around Europe and placed talented players at elite universities in the USA. A number of these players have gone on to sign professional contracts around the world. Two of these players were drafted to Major League Soccer Clubs in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft, one being in the top 15 of the first round.
Upon graduating from college, Baker carried on his soccer career playing in both Iceland and the United Kingdom. Josh has featured in the USL 2 playing for St. Louis Lions and Des Moines Menace, where the Menace were named the 2019 USL 2 Regular Season Champions. Baker currently still plays in the USL 2 for Chowan Head Coach, Chris Whalley at Lionsbridge FC. In 2023, Lionsbridge FC were crowned the Chesapeake Division Champions and made it to the USL 2 National Final in Seattle, Wash. The game was played in front of around 4000 fans, Baker scored the game-tying goals in both the USL 2 National Semi-Final, and USL 2 National Final, he was also named man of the match in both games.
