Baker named new head football coach at Hooper Academy

After spending times at several schools, including Success Unlimited, Marty Baker was officially named the head football coach at Hooper Academy. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Hooper Academy athletic director Tom Pinkston figured a head coaching position was part of the long-range plans for Marty Baker when Baker arrived on campus last fall.

“When he came on the staff, I felt like Marty would be the next guy,” Pinkston said. “I didn’t even think twice about that. I’m the athletic director and assistant principal as well, so I just felt like it was a good time to make that transition.”

Baker will get his opportunity after his promotion to head football coach on Monday by headmaster Liz Norman and the school’s board of directors.

“I’m very excited,” Baker said. “He came to me and asked me if I would do it if the opportunity arose. Of course, I said yes, this is my dream job, I’ve always wanted to go back to Hooper. He said it was time for him to go, from a coaching standpoint.”

Pinkston had been hired in 2018 to replace Bill Moore as the Colts’ athletic director but took over as head football coach after the board decided to fire then-football coach Duane McWhorter. Pinkston coached the Colts in 2019 but had hired Baker before the start of the season, believing the 1988 Hooper graduate was the ideal person to hand the job to in 2020.

Baker was thankful Norman agreed with Pinkston.

“I think she does a great job and I’m happy that she thought enough of me to let Tom turn it over to me,” Baker said. “The things that she is doing out there are wonderful. I think we can get it back to being successful again.”

Baker played for Robert Andress at Hooper and was a sophomore on the 1985 team that upset Morgan Academy to win the Alabama Independent School Association Class AAA state championship. Since Andress won Hooper’s last playoff game in 1997, there have been 10 head football coaches at the school. None have had any success.

Baker comes from a coaching family and actually started coaching while he was still enrolled at Hooper. He teamed with his older brother Gregg, currently an assistant at Wetumpka High, when the latter was the head coach at Faulkner and teamed with his younger brother Dusty, who handled the defensive side of the ball when Marty was the head coach at Brewbaker Junior High.  

Baker got his first job at the age of 19 as an assistant coach under Tommy Goodson at Floyd Junior High, serving as the head coach of the ‘C’ team (seventh grade) in 1994 and continuing his role with the program until it switched over to a magnet school following the 1997 season.

Baker became the head coach at Brewbaker in 1998, winning five city junior high football championships in his eight years at the school. He became the athletic director at Georgia Washington Junior High in 2007-2009, stepping down to serve as receivers’ coach at Faulkner from 2009-12.

He followed Gregg to Catholic in 2013 as a volunteer with the program while teaching at Jeff Davis High for a year. He retired from the public school system and was out of coaching until last January when he accepted a job as assistant football coach and head baseball coach at Success Unlimited Academy.

At Hooper, the offensive minded Baker predicts fans may see a little different Hooper team this fall. 

“They’ll be some changes,” Baker said. “I’m going to go back to what I know and what I feel comfortable with.”

Pinkston said the pair had already discussed some offensive tweaks. 

“It’s going to change some,” Pinkston said. “There are some things that we were talking about before I even made this decision about some changes that were going to be made and you’ll see that when he takes over.”

Baker will face some challenges as the Colts move up from Class AA this fall, but the schedule presents an opportunity for success, something the school hasn’t had in a generation.

Andress went 9-2 in his final season as head coach in 1998, the last time Hooper was competitive in a playoff game. Craig Duncan followed and had a pair of playoff berths in 2002 and 2003, with the 2002 team starting 6-0 before finishing with a 7-4 record.

Since then, the Colts have only managed a pair of 6-5 seasons and lopsided playoff losses in 2012 and 2013 as some of the best coaches have tried and failed to resurrect the program. John Maddaloni, John Glasscock, John Niblett, Cody Keene, Zach Golson, Steve McCord, Chad Michael, McWhorter and Pinkston have combined for 48 wins in 16 seasons.  

“I have a great group of seniors back,” Baker said. “I’m looking for a lot of leadership out of them. I’ve got some young guys we brought in last year as ninth graders that are going to be extremely good and this senior class is a great class to look up to, so I’m excited about that.”

Pinkston said he may replace Baker’s position on the staff “if the opportunity presents itself” but added the coaching staff could perform the same tasks with one less person.