East Orange Campus HS Athletic Director Michael L. Baldwin Sr. sees bright future for Jaguar programs

EAST ORANGE, NJ — Like many athletic directors, East Orange Campus High School’s Michael L. Baldwin Sr. deals with many behind-the-scenes tasks during long days at work. In his fifth year at the post, Baldwin is constantly making sure that each of his athletic programs receives the necessary accommodations. Among them is finding places for them to practice.

East Orange Campus has an enrollment of approximately 1,700 students, and Baldwin wants to make sure that their school experience is positive. 

In an interview with the Record-Transcript, Baldwin expressed his mission: “To make this high school a place where students are really eager to come to, not just to play, but overall, to come to, because it’s a community as a culture of learning and family. To make it a place that, when you say you play for East Orange Campus High School, you are the crème de la crème of top-notch programs — that if I play here, I can go to any other school or college and play. (I want to make EOCHS) a place where scouts come to, because they know we produce solid student-athletes.”

Baldwin was born and raised in Newark. His mother didn’t want him to attend Vailsburg High School or West Side High School, so he attended now-defunct Irvington Tech, where he was a four-year basketball varsity-letter winner and two-year starter.

After graduation, he attended Villa Maria College in Buffalo, N.Y., where he continued his basketball career. He then came back home and attended William Paterson University in Wayne, earning a degree in sociology with a concentration in criminal justice.

Baldwin became a corrections officer and worked as a substitute teacher simultaneously. He was told that he had a knack for teaching, and he said he saw how African Americans in prison were uneducated and misguided. That’s when he knew that being an educator was his calling.

Baldwin, who was a special education teacher, has been in the East Orange school district for 27 years. He was the top assistant girls basketball coach at the Clifford Scott High School under Johnny Atkinson. In the 1997-98 season, the team finished runner-up to undefeated Columbia High School in the Essex County Tournament and won a state sectional title before finishing with a 25-3 record. Clifford Scott and East Orange High School merged to become EOCHS in September 2002.

Baldwin also was an assistant coach in volleyball, soccer and tennis.

When he became the new athletic director, taking over for longtime athletic director Abdul Hassan, Baldwin said, he didn’t have any formal training, though he credited Mo Abdelaziz, then the athletic director and assistant principal at Orange High School, for helping in his transition.

Baldwin also praised other area athletic directors, such as Steve Jenkins of Bloomfield, Joe Piro of Nutley, Gary Teller of Newark West Side and John Taylor of Irvington.

To Baldwin, athletic directors are like a brotherhood or sisterhood.

“I am so indebted to people like Steve (Jenkins) from Bloomfield, Joe Piro from Nutley, Gary Taylor from West Side, and especially John Taylor from Irvington,” he said.

Under Baldwin, many EOCHS programs have enjoyed their share of success for the past few years. Last fall, the football team won the Group 5 state sectional and regional championships to cap an undefeated 13-0 season. 

The girls basketball team, and indoor and outdoor track-and-field teams traditionally have posted success on the county and state levels. The baseball team won a divisional championship last spring. This fall, the girls volleyball team has enjoyed a great season so far.

Baldwin is excited about the future of EOCHS athletics and wants to leave a lasting legacy as the athletic director.

“We’re growing and making strides and improvements,” he said. “Financially, it’s always a challenge to get what you need, but I think my Board of Education has a sympathetic ear, so they are doing a good job of giving us what we need.

“I’m excited about the future. I have a phenomenal coaching staff. My assistant, Ms. (Tara) Toodle, has been great. But I really want to thank my fellow ADs who make this job so much easier. There’s nothing like picking up the phone and calling a person who understands and is in the trenches with you. They give me so much valuable advice.”

Here is a video message by Baldwin:

Photo and video by Joe Ragozzino.

  East Orange Campus High School athletics