BAKER TO CARLISLE | Henderson will be looking for new head football coach

We’ve got some breaking news here on Tuesday.

Clay Baker is leaving his position as head football coach at Henderson High School, and has accepted the position of athletic director and head football coach at Carlisle.

Baker confirmed his departure to ETBlitz.com early this afternoon, and he will start his role at Carlisle ISD on Dec. 16.

Matt Stepp of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football originally broke this news, and ETBlitz.com photographer Ronnie Sartors broke it to our staff.

And it’s not really a “new” role. Clay’s father, Rocky Baker, is a legend at Carlisle High, having coached and served as AD there from 2005-2017. Clay was an assistant with his dad there, and then was the head coach / AD himself from 2018-2022.

Baker took over at Henderson High School, his alma mater (graduated from there in 2004), before the 2023 season, and coached the Lions in ’23 and 2024. Baker and the Lions went 2-8 that first season, and then tripled that win total to 6-4 this year.

The Lions took a big step under Baker in that year.

He’ll be headed back to a job that he’s familiar with, of course. The Indians went 1-9 this year, though, so he’ll be doing some rebuilding.

In his first season as head coach in Carlisle in 2018, the Indians went 12-1, and in his first stint as head coach at CHS, Baker had a 43-17 record, and left in 2022 after going 11-2.

As for Henderson, the search for a new head coach will begin immediately.

The Lions just missed the playoffs this season – a win over Lindale in the final regular season game would have gotten Henderson in.

Someone will inherit a tradition-rich program, with MANY juniors, guys like quarterback Vince Howard, running back Jesstin “Meaty” Starling, receiver-slash player Lemarion Coleman, and so many more.

Starling had the third-best single-game rushing performance in school history this year in a win over Palestine, and tied a school record with five rushing touchdowns in that game. The Lions beat Athens, a good playoff team, this season; gave Liberty-Eylau, an 11-win team still in the 3A-DI playoffs, all it wanted before the Leopards beat them, 44-41; and Henderson beat Kilgore this year, 27-24, for the first time since 2018.

Henderson, with a career program record of 593-433-53, has a playoff record of 36-24-1, and a state championship (2010).