Brian Baker Has Deep Colts Connections

Indianapolis Colts new defensive line coach Brian Baker grew up a Baltimore Colts fan. He played in college with Colts head coach Frank Reich. He’s worked with Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus. And Baker is a good friend of retired Hall of Fame Colts coach Tony Dungy.

There was a time when Brian Baker couldn’t say “Indianapolis” before Colts.

Like many Baltimore Colts fans, the Baltimore native couldn’t help but be bitter when the franchise moved to Indianapolis in 1984.

“When I went away to college is when the Mayflower truck moved the franchise,” Baker said in a June 4th Zoom video conference call. “It took me a while to even say Indianapolis Colts. I would either say Indy or I would say Colts. I couldn’t put the two together for a while. But I’ve gotten over that.”

Hired in March as Indianapolis Colts defensive line coach, Baker is reunited with head coach Frank Reich. They played together at Maryland.

“I cannot tell you how excited I am to have ‘Bake’ on the staff,” Reich said Monday. “Obviously, he and I go way back. We were in the same class at the University of Maryland so we know each other very well, very deep roots together. When I was kind of a head coaching candidate, every head coaching candidate has a list of potential coaches that he wants on his staff. Brian Baker was always my number one guy for d-line.

“I played with him. I know who he is as a man, as a coach. I know his passion for people. I know his passion for the game. I know he’s an excellent communicator and teacher. He’s phenomenal on fundamentals and technique. When we brought him in to interview him, he had worked with ‘Flus’ (Colts defensive coordinator) Matt Eberflus) in Dallas. It was just an incredible opportunity to get ‘Bake’ on this staff, so it was a perfect fit and very excited to have him.”

Brian Baker has spent the past five years coaching in college, including Alabama in 2019 :: Mickey Welsh/USA TODAY Sports

Baker’s extensive 36 years of coaching includes being with the Cowboys and Eberflus in 2011 and 2012. He last coached in the NFL in 2014 as Washington Redskins outside linebackers coach. Although he’s been back in college since, including with Alabama last year, Baker sees the Colts as the ideal fit.

“If you were to ask me the guy I want to work for, the coordinator I want to work with, and really in a system that I’m excited about, OK, it would be this,” Baker said. “The fact that it’s the Colts with Chris Ballard as the GM is kind of icing on the cake for me.”

His affinity for the organization includes being good friends with Tony Dungy, who coached the Colts from 2002 to 2008 and won a Super Bowl XLI ring. Dungy was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.

“With the success Tony Dungy has had here, and Tony and I are good friends, I’ve grown to really like this franchise,” Baker said.

(Phillip B. Wilson has covered the Indianapolis Colts for more than two decades and authored the 2013 book 100 Things Colts Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. He’s on Twitter @pwilson24, on Facebook at @allcoltswithphilb and @100thingscoltsfans, and his email is phillipbwilson24@yahoo.com.)