Trent John Baalke (/ˈbɑːlki/ BAHL-kee; born February 14, 1964) is an American football executive who is the general manager of the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL).
| Jacksonville Jaguars | |||
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| Position: | General manager | ||
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| Born: | February 14, 1964 Rosendale, Wisconsin, U.S. | ||
| Career information | |||
| College: | Bemidji State | ||
| Career history | |||
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| As an executive: | |||
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Early years
editA Rosendale, Wisconsin native, Baalke earned his bachelor's degree in health and physical education at Bemidji State University, where he played outside linebacker and was an All-Northern Sun Conference and All-Midwest Region honoree.[1]
Executive career
editEarly career
editBaalke began his career in coaching in 1989 as a graduate assistant for North Dakota State. From 1990 – 1995, he was a defensive line and strength & conditioning coach for South Dakota State. Baalke then spent two years as the athletic director of Shanley High School in Fargo, North Dakota, before breaking into the NFL as a scout for the New York Jets in 1998, a role in which he spent three seasons. [2]
In 2001, Baalke was hired by the Washington Redskins, spending four years with the team. From 2001 to 2003, he was a national scout, before being promoted to college scouting coordinator in 2004.[3]
San Francisco 49ers
editIn 2005, Baalke was hired by the San Francisco 49ers as their western region scout and in 2008, was promoted to director of player personnel, a position largely responsible for overseeing the team's college scouting operations. Baalke was chosen to lead the 49ers in the 2010 NFL draft, in place of Scot McCloughan, and a month later was given the title of vice president of player personnel.[4] Baalke's official promotion to general manager came shortly after the firing of Mike Singletary as head coach of the 49ers, in anticipation of needing an official general manager to lure Jim Harbaugh away from Stanford for the vacant coaching position.[5][6]
In January 2012, Baalke was named PFWA Executive of the Year for the 2011 season, after being credited for transforming a 6–10 team into a 13–3 team in his first season as general manager.[7] The next month, Baalke received a contract extension through 2016.[8]
After a 2014 season filled with reports that Baalke and then-49ers coach Jim Harbaugh had been clashing, the 49ers parted ways with Harbaugh and promoted defensive line coach Jim Tomsula to the head coaching position. Tomsula led the 49ers to a 5–11 record in 2015 and was fired on January 3, 2016.[9] On January 14, 2016, Chip Kelly was hired as the head coach of the 49ers and led them to a 2–14 record, one of the worst conference records in their franchise history and their worst season since 2004. This led to Baalke and Kelly both being relieved of their duties on January 1, 2017.[10]
NFL
editIn 2017, Baalke became a football operations consultant for the NFL. In this advisory role for NFL, he worked on game-related matters, player development, evaluation, and officiating video review.[11]
Jacksonville Jaguars
editOn February 4, 2020, Baalke was hired as director of player personnel of the Jacksonville Jaguars.[12] On November 29, 2020, he was promoted to interim general manager following the firing of David Caldwell,[13] and was retained for the role full-time after the season.[14]
References
edit- ^ "Trent Baalke".
- ^ "Trent Baalke".
- ^ Matt Barrows (March 26, 2010). "49ers Blog and Q&A: The Trent Baalke file". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
- ^ "Baalke receives promotion to 49ers' VP of player personnel". Associated Press. May 20, 2010. Archived from the original on July 3, 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
- ^ "49ers promote Trent Baalke to GM". ESPN. January 5, 2011. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
- ^ Jason Kirk (January 4, 2011). "Jim Harbaugh OKs San Francisco 49ers General Manager Candidates, According To Report". SB Nation. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
- ^ Dan Arkush (January 17, 2012). "49ers' Baalke named Executive of the Year". Pro Football Weekly. Retrieved January 24, 2012.
- ^ "49ers extend Baalke's deal". CSN Bay Area. February 10, 2012. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
- ^ "One year after pushing out Jim Harbaugh, 49ers fire Jim Tomsula". yahoo.com. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
- ^ "49ers announce firings of coach Chip Kelly, GM Trent Baalke". espn.com. January 1, 2017. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
- ^ Schefter, Adam. "In his advisory role for NFL, Trent Baalke will work on game-related matters, player development and evaluation, officiating video review". Retrieved January 25, 2018.
- ^ "Jaguars Hire Trent Baalke as Director of Player Personnel". Jacksonville Jaguars. February 4, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ^ Day, Ryan (November 29, 2020). "Jaguars officially eliminated from 2020 NFL playoffs". Big Cat Country. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
- ^ Oehser, John (January 21, 2021). "Baalke named general manager". www.jaguars.com. Retrieved January 8, 2022.