John David Baker has been named East Carolina's new offensive coordinator according to an announcement by head coach Mike Houston.

A young offensive mind, Baker's appointment ends a three-year stint at Ole Miss where he served as the co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach for the past two seasons.

"We are thrilled to welcome John David to Greenville to lead our offensive unit," Houston said. "John David comes highly recommended and is highly respected in the football industry. He wanted to be a part of our program and will be a tremendous asset. He has great character, is a great recruiter, teacher of the game and brings a unique offensive approach to East Carolina as he has learned from some of the best college coaches in the game. We are excited for our program, university and Pirate Nation to meet John David, his wife Sarah and daughter Ella."

During his three-year stint with the Rebels, Baker helped oversee an Ole Miss attack that has posted two of the top-five seasons in total offense in program history. Last year, the Rebel rushing attack broke the school record with 3,336 yards while tallying nearly 6,500 yards of total offense (6,453) which ranks fourth all-time. This year, the Rebels are averaging 455.4 yards per game standing 16th nationally, rank among the NCAA leaders in seven offensive categories and have secured their third consecutive bowl game appearance after posting a 10-2 record.

"First off, I want to thank Coach Houston and Jon Gilbert for believing in me and bringing me on to join this proud program and university at East Carolina," Baker said. "Additionally, I express my appreciation to Coach Kiffin and Ole Miss for an incredible three years in Oxford. I am grateful for the time spent there and the unprecedented success we achieved. My family and I can't wait to get to Greenville, and we are excited to bring an exciting brand of football to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium this fall. Let's go to work, Pirate Nation!"

In his first season, Baker oversaw a lights-out passing attack from the Rebel offense. The Rebels led the SEC in total offense (492.5 ypg), engineered by a superb final season by quarterback Matt Corral, who left Ole Miss as one of its best signal callers of all time. The Rebels finished the 2021 season with a 10-3 record and an appearance in the Sugar Bowl against Texas Tech.

Baker began his tenure at Ole Miss on Jan. 25, 2021 after he was named the passing game coordinator and tight ends coach ending a two-year stint with USC where he served as the tight ends coach in 2020 under head coach Clay Helton. He was named to 247Sports' 30Under30 in 2020 one year after he was named an offensive quality control analyst for the Trojans during the 2019 season.

"Coach Baker is one of the elite offensive minds in college football today," Helton said. "He is a high-character individual that knows how to develop student-athletes to the best of their ability."

The San Angelo, Texas, native was an offensive quality control coach at North Texas for three seasons (2016-18). In 2018, UNT ranked No. 12 in passing (306.8), No. 20 in total offense (460.5) and No. 26 in scoring (34.6). Wide receiver Rico Bussey Jr. hauled in 68 passes for 1,017 yards with 12 TDs and running back DeAndre Torrey tallied 15 TDs on the ground.

North Texas ranked No. 19 nationally in scoring (35.5), No. 21 in passing (291.9) and No. 24 in total offense (455.1) in 2017. Quarterback Mason Fine set school season records for passing yards (4,052) and touchdowns (31). The Mean Green qualified for bowl games each year that Baker was on staff (2016 Heart of Dallas, 2017 New Orleans, 2018 New Mexico).

Prior to North Texas, he was a graduate assistant at Abilene Christian, his alma mater, in 2014 and 2015, working with the quarterbacks.

Baker played quarterback for the Amarillo Venom indoor football team in 2014 (Lone Star Football League) and 2015 (Champions Indoor Football).

He played quarterback for four seasons (2010-13) at Abilene Christian. As a senior in 2013, Baker completed 247-of-369 passes (66.9%) for 3,376 yards and 35 TDs, with just five interceptions. Baker also rushed for 256 yards and five TDs. His 40 total TDs were a school record. In his first career start, he threw for a school-record seven touchdowns against Concordia College.

Baker received his bachelor's degree in exercise science in 2014 and his master's degree in higher education in 2016, both from Abilene Christian.

He prepped at Lake View High (Texas) where he earned all-district honors in both football and baseball. Baker threw for 2,240 yards and 22 touchdowns and ran for 688 yards and 18 TDs his senior season.