PORTLAND, MI – The Michigan High School Coaches’ Association (MHSCA) has selected Douglas Baird from Hesperia High School for induction into the Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony took place in the Terrace Room of the Bovee University Center on the campus of Central Michigan University (CMU), Sunday, Sept. 15 at 1 p.m.
Baird has coached three different sports for a total of 99 seasons over 35 years and continues to coach currently. He has coached middle school boys and girls track in Mount Pleasant (1990-94) and Hesperia (1995-99), and was the girls high school head track and field coach in Hesperia (1996-98). He was the boys and girls head cross country coach at Hesperia High School from 1995-2015 and from 2017-2022. His girls cross country teams have won 10 conference championships, three MHSAA Regional Championships, two MHSAA State Titles, 36 Invitational wins and have a win-loss record of 69-22. His boys cross country teams have won 15 conference championships, four MHSAA Regional Championships, one MHSAA Runner-Up finish, two MHSAA State Titles, 65 Invitational wins, and have a win-loss record of 89-19. Baird also had three girls cross country Academic All-State teams and six boys cross country Academic All-State teams. In 2023, he returned as the assistant coach of the Hesperia High School boys and girls cross country teams.
Baird began his career as a wrestling coach in Mount Pleasant as the middle school wrestling coach (1989-90). He served as the assistant wrestling coach at Coleman High School (1990-91) and at Mount Pleasant High School (1991-94) and Hesperia High School (1995-2003 and 2023-24). He was the head wrestling coach at Hesperia High School from 2004-2013 and again from 2016-2021. His teams accumulated 11 conference titles, 15 MHSAA District Titles, 10 MHSAA Regional Titles, four MHSAA Runner-Up finishes, one MHSAA State Title, 53 Invitational wins and have a win-loss record of 503-99. Baird has had nine Academic All-State wrestling teams and in 2006 his team won the MHSAA-Good Sports are Winners award. 10 of Baird’s wrestlers were Academic All-Americans, 43 wrestlers have won 100+ matches and nine wrestlers won 200+ matches. In all sports coached combined, Baird’s athletes earned 112 MHSAA All-State Individual medals, 22 MHSAA Individual State Champions and 12 MHSAA Individual Runner-Ups. Baird has coached two Mr. Wrestler athletes, which is an accomplishment that no other Division 4 team has yet to match. Many of his athletes went on to compete at the collegiate level.
Throughout his coaching career, Baird has been honored for his service to his teams and sports on numerous occasions. Baird was named the Michigan Wrestling Association (MWA) Regional Coach of the Year nine times, the MWA State Coach of the Year in 2008, the National Wrestling Coaches Association Michigan Coach of the Year nominee two times and the MWA Regional Assistant Coach of the Year in 2001. He was also selected to coach in the MWA East/West All-Star Wrestling Match in 2008, and coached Team Michigan at Fargo National Championships for Freestyle/Greco in 2019. Baird was named the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association (MITCA) Boys Cross Country Coach of the Year two times and the MITCA Girls Cross Country Coach of the Year two times. In 2019, Baird was inducted into the MITCA Hall of Fame.
Coach Baird has been an active member of the MWA serving as the treasurer from 2000-2022, served on coaches committees to seed both individual and team state MHSAA finals, was a MWA Coaches Clinic Presenter in 2009 and founded the White River Wrestling Camp (1995-present). Baird’s wrestling teams have also collected Toys for Tots for 15 years and have raised $50,000 with their annual “Pink Out” meet to raise money for those battling cancer.
The MHSCA is a 67-year old association with nearly 12,000 members representing 18 sport related associations was founded on the campus of CMU in 1954. The Hall of Fame is located in the Student Activities Center.
Hesperia Community Schools will host an Open House Reception for Baird, Monday, Sept. 23 from 5-7 p.m. in the Hesperia High School cafeteria.
