Carla Baker

Position: Head Coach Experience: Fourth year at Iowa Alma Mater: McMaster, 1990

Carla Baker is in her fourth season as the head coach for the Iowa soccer program.

In her inaugural season, Baker led the Hawkeyes to an 11-7-1 record and three of her players were honored with postseason recognition by the Big Ten Conference. In addition to the individual honors, the team was awarded the NSCAA Team Academic Award.

Baker led the Hawkeyes to a 4-12-2 record in 2003 with victories over No. 12 BYU, Rutgers and in-state rivals Drake and Northern Iowa. Under Baker, Katelyn Quinn was named second team all-Big Ten and Soccer Buzz Great Lakes Region third team.

In her third year at Iowa, Baker recorded a 2-14-2 record, including 3-1 victories over both Creighton and Northern Iowa.

Before moving to Iowa, Baker owned her own soccer consulting company in Dallas, TX, and served on staff as a goalkeeper coach at all levels for United States Soccer Federation youth national teams, U-14 to U-21 age groups. She worked with and helped train U-19 World Cup champion Ashlyn Harris, who is now with the U-21 national team.

In Dallas, Baker was also involved with the D'Feeters Soccer Club where she was promoted the Director of Coaching in 2001. She was responsible for the tactical and technical development of the teams. Under her training, the '84 D'Feeters played at the Final Four Youth National Championships in 2000 and 2001. The '83 D'Feeters team achieved its highest level of success as the Southern Regional Finalists in 2001. She was able to help place her players at Connecticut, Virginia and Texas A&M, who are in the top 20 nationally.

Prior to her move to Dallas in 1999, Baker served as an assistant coach at the Division I level for eight years at the University of Notre Dame and Cornell University.

Baker was an assistant with the University of Notre Dame from 1993-1999. The Fighting Irish won the 1995 National Championship and made four consecutive NCAA Final Four appearances during her tenure. She was responsible for coordinating recruiting, scheduling spring games, monitoring strength and conditioning, individual player development, training the goalkeepers and arranging team travel. Baker coached 11 all-Americans, including Herman Trophy recipient Cindy Daws, WUSA & National Team Goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene and WUSA & World Cup Champion Kate Sobrero. She also coached seven other all-Americans who are now playing in the WUSA professional soccer league.

She began her coaching career at Cornell University from 1991-93. While at Cornell, the Big Red were crowned 1991 Ivy League champions.

Baker's playing career includes 12 years on the Canadian National Team, where she travelled all over the world in competition. She competed in China, Denmark, Taiwan, Bulgaria and Haiti. She was also the starting goalkeeper in the 1995 Women's World Cup Championships held in Sweden.

"The greatest opportunity I had as an elite athlete was to experience different cultures and participate in the World Cup. Having worked for close to 20 years and battling two ACL tears, there was no greater joy than to wear the Canadian jersey at the World Championship."

Baker also played three years (1987-90) at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1990. She was named to the 1987 all-Canadian Team while with the Marauders.

Baker has her "A" License from the United States Soccer Federation and National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Advanced National Diploma.

Baker resides in Iowa City with her husband, Tom and their children Drew and Erin.