LUMBERTON — It’s been a while since the Lumberton High School football program put together a strong on-field product for a season.

But while Taurius Baker is just six weeks into his tenure as the Pirates head coach, he was around the last time the Pirates had everything clicking — and it’s because of that that he believes the program can get back to that place with him at the helm.

Baker discussed memories from his time as a Pirates assistant coach during this week’s installment of the Inside Sports Summer Spotlight Series on robesonian.com.

“A lot of good memories,” Baker said. “We were here before, went (third) round in the playoffs and had a really good team. But what I like about it, I watched the program go from that point; I came in at the end of (Bill) Dockery into the (Mike) Brill tenure and watched how the program was built with the athletes that we still have here, seeing us being successful in the (Southeastern Conference), which we might end up playing those same teams again with this new realignment coming up. But just seeing the program grow, and I feel like I have the knowledge and the know how and I’m just excited to come back to start bringing that type of football back here in Lumberton.”

Baker was a Pirates assistant from 2005-11 and again in 2013. That included nine-win seasons in both 2008 and 2009, with the Pirates reaching the second round of the state playoffs in 2008 and the third round in 2009. Those are, though, the program’s most recent playoff wins.

Baker has also served as an assistant at West Bladen and South Robeson, and was at Gray’s Creek for the last six seasons before taking the Lumberton head job.

He now inherits a Lumberton program that hasn’t had a winning season since 2011, including seven straight seasons of two wins or less. He is the program’s fourth head coach since 2019.

As a first-time head coach, Baker said Brill and others under whom he’s coached previously have offered plenty of advice as he makes that adjustment.

“It’s a plethora, a wealth of advice that I’ve been getting; I don’t even know where to start,” Baker said. “How to coach, how to lead, communication issues, there’s so much. It’s all been dropped on me, I’m just a sponge of it all and just trying to put it all together and let the Lord use me how He’s going to use me to be a leader and bring success back to this program.”

Full video of the interview is available at above, including thoughts on his first six weeks as the Pirates’ coach, the difference between high school football in North Carolina and his native New York, what he plans to do to turn the Pirates’ program around, how much he’s looking forward to the team’s Aug. 23 opener against Fairmont and what his goals are for the 2024 season.