Nick Baker

Head Coach, Boys Cross Country

Boys Varsity Cross Country

Nick Baker, Head Coach at Haddonfield since 1982, has been called by the SJTCA "the  most successful track and cross country coach in South Jersey history." In cross country Nick Baker has a won-lost record of 356 -16 including  232 straight wins from 1997 through 2021. He has won 39 South Jersey championships which is a state record, including the last 18 in a row. His team has qualified for the Meet of Champions  35 times,  which is the  most  by a public school in New Jersey. Haddonfield has won 19 state championships and in 2001 they won the Meet of Champions. That same year his team was voted the #1 team in the state and the #5 team in the country. The 2001 team was the first team in state history to have 3 runners run under 16 minutes in the same meet at Holmdel Park. His 2021  team was ranked 3rd in New Jersey and won its 4th straight Group 2 State Title, not including 2020, when it was the top ranked team but theState championships were not held. This marks 10 straight years his teams have qualified for the Meet of Champions or its equivalent, with 14 podium finishes and 20 top ten finishes.

Nick Baker's Track teams have been just as impressive. Besides numerous conference, county and sectional championships they won 9 winter track state titles, 6 indoor state relay titles and 5 outdoors state championships. That is a total of 20 track state titles that goes along with the 17 state titles in cross country for an unbelievable 37 state championships. He has also coached 8 National Champions in track. His distance medley won indoor national titles in 2002 and 2010. His 4 mile relay won the indoor national championship in 2002, 2010 and the outdoor title in 2010.

However Nick Baker isn't just a coach at Haddonfield. He is an advocate and innovator for the sport he loved. He was the president  of the SJTCA for  20 years and the  vice president for 14 years. He started the Haddonfield Invitational and has been the director for over 30 years. He is the meet director of the Haddonfield Distance Night. He started' the Haddonfield winter track and middle school programs and started the Colonial Conference Middle School Championship. Nick was the SJTCA spring banquet chairman for 20 years and for a time oversaw the winter track banquet, the South Jersey Open in track and the SJTCA Hall of Fame.

Nick has been named the SJTCA cross country coach of the year 4 times, the SJTCA track coach of the year twice, the New Jersey cross country and track coach of the year twice and the Northeast Regional Coach of the Year in cross country. A member of the NJ State Coaches Hall of fame since 2002,  in 2018 he was inducted into the SJTCA Hall of Fame, and in 2019 into the Camden County Sports Hall of Fame

A native of Dublin, Ireland, Coach Baker moved with his family to New York at age five. He graduated from Mt. Vernon (N.Y.) High School, where he was a member of the state champion cross-country team and the Eastern States champion track team. He graduated from Springfield College (Mass.), where he met his wife Maureen. Mrs. Baker was Haddonfield girls track coach for many years; and coached the middle school runners, developing athletes who  went to great success in high school.  The Bakers retired from education and are devoting their time to coaching. Mr. Baker, in addition to cross country, is one of the coaches of winter and spring track.  The Bakers have two children, Courtney and Colin. Courtney has followed in her parents' footsteps and is a teacher in South Jersey and Head Coach in Cross Country and Track at Haddonfield Middle School. Colin, a star runner at Haddonfield and formerly the school's 1600 record holder, graduated from Penn State and the Master's program at Duke, and now works in finance.