Lords Named Head Coach for Baker Men’s Wrestling

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. - Baker University Athletic Director Susan Decker announced on Thursday the hiring of Jake Lords as head coach of the Baker men's wrestling program.

"I am thrilled to announce Jake Lords as the new men's wrestling coach at Baker University," said Decker. "I am confident that Coach Lords and his family will be a great fit for the Baker community and his passion for student-athletes and their success in both the classroom and on the mat will be felt immediately."

Lords joins the Wildcats after spending the last four seasons at Carl Albert State College, a junior college located in Poteau, Okla., where he started the men's and women's wrestling programs for the Vikings, while also serving as the Athletic Director since the fall of 2021.

Since building the programs at CASC, which included establishing the second women's collegiate wrestling program in the state of Oklahoma, Lords has coached four NJCAA national champions, seven national finalists, 26 NJCAA All-Americans and 74 national qualifiers between the two teams.

Lords was just named NJCAA Women's National Coach of the Year by the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) on March 10 after leading a Vikings women's squad that reached No. 2 in the national rankings this past season. He was a finalist for the NJCAA Men's Coach of the Year award in 2022 as a first-year coach.

"I want to thank Susan Decker, Kyle Pattrick, Matt Hevel, Jimmy May and Kit Harris for allowing me the opportunity to become Baker's sixth head men's wrestling coach," said Lords. "I'm incredibly thankful and excited for the opportunity. During my time on campus, I could tell it was a close-knit community and I'm eager to get to work and become part of the Baker family. I can't wait to contribute to the positive culture that exists at Baker in providing student-athletes with the best possible experience."

Prior to his time at Carl Albert, Lords was an assistant coach for NCAA Division II school Minnesota State-Moorhead for two seasons, receiving his Master's in Educational Leadership from MSUM while coaching for the Dragons.

Lords takes over a Baker men's wrestling program that had three wrestlers qualify for the NAIA Championships this past season and boasted a conference runner-up wrestler in Christian Nishi-Rivera, who took second at the Heart of America Conference Championships.

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