BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Bradford High School has once again turned to the state of Georgia for its head football coach, announcing the hiring of Valdosta High School assistant Ross Baker.
Baker, who served as Valdosta’s co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach, has 15 years of experience as a head coach and assistant coach at the high-school level, working at schools in Ohio, Kentucky and Florida before his hiring at Valdosta prior to the 2025 season.
“I’m excited,” said Baker, who met with BHS players on Feb. 11. “I can’t wait to get down here full-time.”
The Cincinnati native said he found the BHS job appealing for several reasons, including the support of Principal Chris Coffey, Athletic Director Sampson Jackson and Superintendent of Schools Will Hartley.
“I think, in general, the right people are in place,” Baker said. “Sampson’s awesome. Mr. Hartley’s awesome. Mr. Coffey’s awesome. They’re all supportive. It’s one of the things you look for, a district that supports athletics.”
Baker also talked about the support from the community at large. He said his phone has been “blowing up” from people asking what they can do to help him and the program.
“That’s one of the things that’s exciting about this place. The community cares,” Baker said.
Baker said that goes a long way to “building a program in the right way and making winners.”
“It takes resources,” he said. “It’s time or money or whatever someone can give. Maybe it’s helping make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or anything like that.”
Baker isn’t looking forward to just community support. He’s excited about he and his wife, Annel, becoming a part of the community.
“I’m going to live in town and really be all in,” Baker said.
The new coach has extensive experience on the offensive side of the ball. He was an offensive coordinator at various schools in Ohio and Kentucky before being hired at Valdosta High School last year. Valdosta, which went 12-2 and advanced to the state semifinals in their class, scored 74 touchdowns and compiled 3,618 rushing yards and 2,916 passing yards.
“We’re going to be extremely exciting and up tempo,” Baker said. “We’re going to push the tempo to where if (fans) go to the bathroom, they might miss a touchdown.”
Baker expressed gratitude to Valdosta Head Coach Shelton Felton for hiring him.
“Coach Felton took a chance on me because I’m not a Georgia guy. I’m from Ohio,” Baker said. “I’m forever indebted to him. He was an awesome mentor.”
Another mentor was a former Ohio State University head coach. Baker worked as a student coach under Tressel at Ohio State. The Ohio State graduate said that experience gave him a direction to go in life after his playing days were over.
“I kind of figured out there is something after you’re done playing,” Baker said. “You can give back to kids and really pour into kids. Just being around Tressel was big for me in that.”
Baker, who also went to graduate school at Marshall University, said his coaching philosophy comes from Tressel: “I don’t care how much you know until I know how much you care.” He said coaching is all about building relationships with all the players.
Those relationships had Baker thanking the players at Valdosta. He told them the opportunity to be the head coach at BHS came about because of what they did on the field.
“It was a real good year,” Baker said. “It got me here (at BHS).”
In meeting with his future players, Baker said he told them that they would find him to be “real and genuine.”
“I am who I am,” Baker said. “I’m going to be transparent. I think most times kids can kind of see through some BS anyway, so it’s best to be true and straight.”
Baker said he talked to BHS students about his expectations and tried to gauge how they were responding to what he was telling them.
“I think they’re open to the things I’m going to bring,” he said.
A new coach can bring about a period of excitement, but Baker said he’s ready to “get past that and put in some real work.”
