Joe Sloan and Blake Baker are about to meet on opposite sidelines, and the reunion comes with plenty of shared history.
The two coordinators will square off Saturday at Kroger Field, with Sloan calling plays for Kentucky and Baker running LSU’s defense. For two coaches who have crossed paths for years, this is as familiar as it gets. Sloan and Baker have known each other for more than 15 years, and as On3’s Shea Dixon told 11 Personnel, “They were the OC and DC for Skip Holtz at La Tech for like eight years,” and “They were in each other’s weddings.”
Their bond traces back to Ruston, where Sloan got his first full-time assistant role at Louisiana Tech in 2013 after spending time as a backup quarterback for Skip Holtz at East Carolina. Baker joined the staff a year later to coach safeties, then worked his way up to defensive coordinator.
Sloan climbed too, moving from recruiting coordinator to offensive coordinator. The two helped build a winning run for the Bulldogs, who posted four 9+ win seasons during Sloan’s time there and finished with a 10-win year in 2019.
Success eventually pushed both men onto bigger stages. Baker left for Miami in 2019 as defensive coordinator, while Sloan’s path eventually carried him to LSU.
That stop in Baton Rouge looked very different for each coach. Brian Kelly hired Sloan in 2022 because of his reputation as a recruiter in Louisiana, and Sloan became the quarterbacks coach who helped develop Jayden Daniels into a Heisman Trophy winner. Baker, meanwhile, was coaching Missouri that same season before returning to LSU a year later.
By 2024, Sloan had been promoted to offensive coordinator and was the one drawing up the offense against Baker’s defense in practice. LSU’s defense drew far less heat from fans, while Sloan took the blame as the Tigers’ rushing game sank to last in the SEC.
He became the face of Brian Kelly’s offensive problems. Baker, on the other hand, was so valued inside the program that LSU worked to keep him from leaving for Tulane’s head coaching job.
That LSU tenure is part of why some wondered why Will Stein would bring Sloan in to run Kentucky’s offense. Five games into the season, the move has looked sharp.
The Wildcats are in the Top 20 in success rate and are averaging 34.6 points per game. Sloan has also already landed a commitment from Jake Nawrot, the No.
2 QB in the country, and his first Kentucky recruit, Kenny Darby, has emerged as one of the top freshman wide receivers in college football.
“Joe’s a pro. I’m so glad Joe’s on our team,” Stein said this week.
“He adds so much to our coaching staff and to our offense, and really the connection throughout the entire team. He’s an elite person.
He’s an elite coach, he’s an elite recruiter, and I’m really, really happy he’s with us.”
The coaching familiarity cuts both ways, but Lane Kiffin doesn’t think it gives either side much of an edge.
“I think there’s so much in this conference where people move around and stuff that you know people pretty well, or that they run a system from someone else, a copycat system,” Kiffin said. “So I don’t know, it probably really neutralizes itself.”
Baker’s defense brings the stronger paper resume into the matchup. LSU has a Top-5 unit loaded with NFL Draft picks, though the Tigers will be without All-American linebacker Whit Weeks against Kentucky. Still, Kentucky gets the game at home, and Stein made clear he doesn’t want the familiarity to turn into a distraction.
“Try not to make it bigger than what it is,” said Stein. “Just like Jay did with Texas A&M; it’s just another game.
What you see on tape is what you plan for. You might know they have some stuff in their back pocket, but at the same time, you don’t know if they’re gonna call it.
So you just gotta plan for what you see.”
In Other News...
Kentucky Gets One Big Boost As LSU Test Meets Injury Trouble
Kentuckys setup for LSU got a little shakier this week, with the Wildcats preparing to play without several defensive pieces and one offensive lineman as the matchup approaches. Alex Afari, Tavion Wallace, Antwan Smith, Jaden Smith and Grant Grayton are all slated to sit out, and Abe Selm is also unavailable up front, leaving Kentucky to sort through its depth on both sides of the ball for one of the SECs tougher road tests.
There was at least one bit of good news in the availability report: long snapper Cole Marszalek is expected back, helping steady a special teams unit that cant afford any extra chaos in a game like this. Kalen Edwards, meanwhile, has been downgraded from questionable to doubtful, adding another layer of uncertainty as Kentucky looks to navigate LSU with a thinner margin for error, especially with the Tigers also missing linebacker Whit Weeks because of a leg injury. [Read more 🡒]
Kentuckys First LSU Availability Report Brings Relief And Real Concern
Kentuckys first official availability report under the SECs new weekly policy offered a clearer picture of where the Wildcats stand heading into their next game, and it brought a mix of comfort and concern. The update confirmed some needed good news for a few players who had been in flux, including wide receiver DJ Miller and longsnapper Cole Marszalek, both expected to be available after dealing with availability questions in recent games.
The flip side was less encouraging for a defense already trying to manage its depth. Linebackers Alex Afari Jr. and Antwan Smith were listed out, while defensive tackle Kalen Edwards landed in the doubtful category, leaving Kentucky with more uncertainty in the middle of its lineup than it would like this week. The new report format is supposed to create transparency, but for Kentucky it also underscored how much of the roster is still being sorted out before kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky's LSU Shot Has Real Upset Energy For One Big Reason
Kentucky has built a pretty respectable case for itself in these high-end matchups since 2021, going 4-8 straight up against top-10 opponents while also covering in 9 of those 12 games. The Wildcats best home example came back in 2021 against Florida, and theyve since found ways to land top-10 wins in 2023, 2024 and 2026, including one against a Lane Kiffin-coached team. So even when the ranking says upset, Kentucky has at least shown it can make those nights uncomfortable.
Now comes a different kind of test at Kroger Field, because this will be the first time a top-10 team walks into the stadium in the Will Stein era. That alone gives the LSU matchup a little extra edge, since Kentuckys recent track record suggests it wont just be there to take the hit and move on. The question hanging over this one is whether that history translates into another home upset, or whether the new era starts with the Wildcats still chasing that breakthrough moment. [Read more 🡒]